


What Could’ve Changed

by Deadly_Sirius



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Angst, Black and Malfoy abusive housholds, Christmas Holidays, Deamus, Drarry, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, HP discourse, Harry Potter AU, Hogwarts, I despise Sirius’ death and his ending so Imma just pretend it never happened, I wrote this first chapter and came up with the idea at 2 am, M/M, Marauders, Mild Hurt/Comfort, S L O W B U R N, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Smut, Starbucks, Swearing, abusive family mentions, also the Dursleys, and sirius being painfully gay, around the seventh/eighth chapter if u wanna skip ahead or are concerned, but they do end up together, everyone just sort of assumes drarry is a thing until they make it official?, if you do not like slow burn you won't like this, it's brief and not a relationship or anything, linny - Freeform, mainly comfort about their shitty childhoods, more characters/ships to come later, more james being concerned about his sexuality, pls forgive me, probably, romione, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-04-26 02:43:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 43,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14392584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deadly_Sirius/pseuds/Deadly_Sirius
Summary: What if Peter never escaped that fateful night in PoA?Sirius would be able to live a life, as normal as one could have after 12 years in Azkaban, and maybe Harry would be a little bit happier too.





	1. What If

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this ON MY PHONE at 2 am, withouth proofreading or having a beta, and I haven’t posted anything in years. I’m back to Harry Potter fuckers, gotta love me some good ol’ Wolfstar. And I’ll probably add in some marauders era flashbacks later too!

Sirius knew that grabbing Harry’s best friend’s leg on the night of a full moon was risky. He needed Remus there to make sure Harry didn’t kill him. After all, Remus was smart enough to realize Sirius wasn’t guilty. Right?

Never mind that. Sirus didn’t have time to worry about the details, he was never one to focus on them even if he did have the time to. So, disguised as Padfoot, off Sirius and a boy he knew to be a Weasley went, down the tunnel beneth the Whomping Willow.

It wasn’t particularly easy to drag a screaming and kicking teenage boy down a dirty passageway as a dog, but Sirius did the best that he could given the circumstances. He had nestled Ron into the corner and trotted away from him, Sirius’ back turned as he transformed back into the gaunt and hollow man he really was. Behind him, Ron let out a whimper and Sirius turned around, grinning and showing his dashing smile.

Except this time, it was haunted and dark; the curve of his lips exposing his dirtied teeth never quite made it to his sunken eyes. Before Sirius could utter a word to the Weasley boy, a bushy-haired girl and a rather small, dark-haired boy with round glasses appeared, worried about their friend until he gave them a warning.

And before he could process it, Sirius came face-to-face with _James_. Although something was different. The glasses were a different shape, and behind them held a different set of eyes. Lily’s eyes. And they were full of anger and murderous rage, something Sirius would have laughed about and told his godson he’d seen the look too many times from Harry’s fiesty mother, if it weren’t for the murder accusations and wands in his face.

 

Before long, luckily, Remus was there. Finally. Finally Sirius got a good long look at the man. Unfortunately, Sirius noticed the painful amount of new scars that littered his arms, hands, neck and face, and he was sure more covered the skin currently hidden from his best friend’s clothing. He saw the way that instead of standing tall with broad shoulders like he did the last time Sirius saw him, he was sickly thin and seemed smaller. And although Moony looked like he hadn’t felt happiness in a very long time, Sirius was greeted with a beaming look on the lanky man’s marred face as he welcomed him with open arms. Shouts of disgust and more accusations flew around the room, but Sirius knew it would be okay, finally, it would be okay.

He would make Remus and Harry understand. He’d get to see not only two of his friends, albeit one through the child of said friend, but a third one as well that would grant Sirius the opportunity to become a free man once and for all.

 

Minus a few bumpy moments when Ron’a broken leg was discovered, Snivellus Snape showed up, and Harry almost killed Sirius, the night concluded with a fairly good amount of progress made. But Sirius was careful. He knew what day it was, and although the excitements of the night distracted him, Remus looked extraordinarily exhausted.

”Harrry,” Sirius called out as Lupin grabbed Peter to make him leave the Shrieking Shack. “I want you and Hermione to take Peter back to the castle.” His tone suddenly lost the warmth that had been building in it since he met the boy earlier. “I need you two to promise me, no matter what happens or what you hear, that you will get Pettigrew to Dumbledore.”

”But, Sirius, Professor Lupin is taking-“

”Harry, I’m afraid your godfather may be right about this,” Lupin cut in saddly. His eyes shared a knowing glance with Sirius and he, somewhat relucantly, surrendered Pettigrew to Hermione. “ _Patrifocus Totalus!_ ”

The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor managed to cast the spell right as Pettigrew attenpted to bolt out of the room. Lupin quickly explained a simple charm, one that Hermione was already familiar with apparently, that would allow her to levitate Pettigrew back to the castle.

 

Meanwhile, Sirius Black was doing something he never wished to do again: waking up Severus Snape. After regaining consciousness, there was another yelling match between Black and the Potions proffessor, but upon reminding Snape that, although he hated it, it was his job to protect students who had broken limbs against werewolves, Sirius managed to get Snape to gracelessly remove Ron Weasley from the Shrieking Shack and the two set off after Harry and Hermione.

 

”Are you okay?” The words left Remus’ lips barely louder than a whisper as the teacher shook profusely.

”You’re the one morphing into a werewolf,” Sirius pointed out, taking a few steps closer.

”You’rs the one who spent twelve years in Azkaban, rotting in a cell from the hatred of his entire community for a crime he didn’t commit,” Remus somewhat callously retorted. Sirius flinched a little.

”The two of us are a downright mess,” he softly replied, clenching his jaw as Remus closed his eyes and screwed up his face in pain.

Knowing better than to comfort the man, Sirius returned to his grim-like form to prepare for Remus’ transformation.

 

————

 

One particularly grueling and long night later, Sirius Black, mass murderer known not only by wizards everywhere but also muggles, supported a half-dead Remus Lupin, DADA professor loved by most and werewolf, in a stumble back to the Hogwarts castle.

”Merlin’s beard! Professor Lupin what— MR. BLACK!”

A familiar stern shout rang in Sirius’ ears as he pushed through the entrance hall. “Minerva,” he chuckled, “before you send for the Minister, could you please help me get Remus to the hospital wing?”

”I- you- Black you’re-“ Sirius Black, after seven years of treacherous pranks and tomfoolery, finally made Professor McGonagall speechless. “I- Very well then. Professor Dumbledore alluded to the fact that you are innocent, although he didn’t warn me that you’d appear here,” she explained as she ushered the bloodied and dirtied pair through the castle. It being five o’clock in the morning meant that no students were awake to see the convicted mass murder being ushered through the school.

 

And making Minerva McGonagall speechless was not the only unexpected thing to happen that early morning. Sirius Black also managed to flat-out deny Albus Dumbledore. And not easily, either.

The headmaster had been summoned by Professor McGonagall the second Remus and Sirius entered the hospital wing, giving Madam Pomfrey quite a fright. She settled them quietly as far away from Ron as possible, who was alone and asleep since Harry and Hermione had returned to their common room late last night. Dumbledore adamantly requested Sirius return with him to his office, but Sirius refused.

”I’m not leaving Remus alone.”

At first, Dumbledore was amused, but he persisted.

”It’s been twelve fucking years, Dumbledore, he’s not leaving my sight.”

”I must insist, Mr. Black, that you choose your vocabulary more carefully, as this is a school. Nonetheless, I am insisting you to come with me.”

”No.”

”No?” The headmaster peered over his half-moon spectacle. “No?” He repeated.

”No. Especially not since Remus isn’t better yet.”

”I’m working on it,” Madam Pomfrey said heatedly, “but it’s rather hard to do so with two bickering adult men, one of whom is acting like a schoolboy with a crush,” she finished heatedly as she waved her wand and whispered quiet incantantions over Remus’ fresh wounds.

”You are aggravating my healer,” Dimbledore stated, his voice icy. “I’m going to require you to leave this hospital wing now, Sirius.”

”See, you keep insisting, and I keep not moving.”

”Oh come now Dumbledore, I might as well check over the man while he’s here.”

”Nonsense, Madam Pomfrey. He can come back if he has any injuries.”

”What if I’m dying?”

”You’re quite alive, Sirius,” Dumbledore said, exasperated.

”I’m dying! Help, Madam Pomfrey, I’m seeing black!”

”You’re looking at your reflection in the window!”

”I’m seeing visions of my passed ancestors!”

”SIRIUS! This is quite unreasonable! Come with me right this instant or-“

A stirring noise came from the opposite side of the room and Madam Pomfrey hissed at Sirius and Dumbledore.

”Be quiet! You’ll wake the Weasley boy!”

Dumbledore opened his mouth in response, but decided simply to frown as Sirius smirked to himself. It was painfully like the old days, except the headmaster no longer held the same amount of control over him.

”I hope you realize, although I have questioned Pettigrew and learned the real story, it would take a simple memory charm and all the evidence to set you free would disappear with the wave of my wand.”

 

The threat made the hair on the back of Sirius’ neck stand up. He gritted his teeth, but unwillingly stepped forward, to leave with Dumbledore.

Before the old wizard had a chance to relish in his victory however, Sirius felt a tight grasp on his wrist. Remus, who’d been asleep moments earlier, looked scarily like his fifteen-year-old self as he croaked quietly from his hospital bed, “Stay.”

Madam Pomfrey attempted to fuss over him, but he made no movement, his eyes locked with Sirius’, except to repeat the word. Dumbledore’s eyes squinted and his hand twitched towards his wand, but then he simply turned wigh a flourish of his robes and quickly walked out of the hospital wing. 

Sirius aided Madam Pomfrey in feeding Lupin chocolate before the teacher fell back asleep, and the prisoner briefly wondered what would happen when Lupin woke up.

 

————

 

Sirius realized he’d fallen asleep when he was shouted awake by Harry and Hermione, who were visiting Ron immediately after breakfast.

”Sirius! Sirius! Sirius, what happened? Is Professor Lupin okay? What happened after we left? Snape took Ron to Madam Pomfrey, Sirius what happened?” The two eagerly bombarded him and Sirius Black, who had never been a man for early mornings, simply yawned and waved them off.

”Ergh, I slept for bare’y two hours, give me a break,” he joked, attempting to hide his nervousness to answer the questions.

“Dumbledore sent for you. Twice, actually,” Hermione informed as Harry’s godfather stretched. “The second time he ‘firmly requested’ that you bring Professor Lupin with you.”

With Madam Pomfrey’s approval, and a promise to come back after the meeting, Sirius and Remus changed into real clothing and head off towards the headmaster’s office.

“I still can’t believe you’re innocent,” Remus quietly said to himself before muttering a password to the gargoyle statues.

 

The three men sat in silence before Dumbledore finally sighed and asked what happened. Lupin barely spoke the entire time as Sirius, somewhat angrily, explained the entire story of not only last night, but also of Halloween night 12 years ago.

Finally, at the end of the long story, Dumbledore nodded. “That lines up quite perfectly wih the story Peter Pettigrew told me.”

”He told you the truth?” Lupin asked, somewhat ridiculously.

”I, shall we say, _intimidated_  it out of him,” Dumbledore admitted. “Now,” he said, turning back to Sirius. “The Minister should be here within the hour. Peter Pettigrew is guarded in a classroom that is warded against animagus transformations, and will be escorted to an immediate trial. Sirius, you have been requested to make a presence at said trial, but I have insisted that no harm to you shall be done, and no Dementors will come within  1,000 kilometers from you. Afterwards, I have told the Minister that when, not if, when you are cleared of all charges, you are to remain at Hogwarts until the end of the term. Unfortunately, with Lord Voldemort’s following still somewhat active, you would be in grave danger without protection.”

Sirius nodded, not having thought about the last detail, but happy to spend a few weeks with Harry and Remus close by.

 

Remus and Sirius thanked Dumbledore and stood up, moving to leave.

”Sirius,” Dumbledore called out, making Black pause. “Your behavior last night was unacceptable. I cannot permit it to happen again. Parents already will be terrified to hear this news, and I fear if they hear that you act like an entitled child, although I am used to it from your years here and in the Order, I will not be able to stop them from having you removed. You will be on your best behavior.”

”You must forgive me, Professor,” Sirius said shyly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was quite exhausted and not eager for scrutinization. I also needed to make sure my last remaining best friend would survive the night.”

”All quite understandable points. Nonetheless-“

”It won’t happen again,” Sirius finished for him. “I just got too reminiscent of my old days in the castle.”

Dumbledore finally smiled, his eyes warm as they looked over Black’s face. “Please let us never have to relive those.”

”From the stories Remus tells me about a certain red-haired pair of twins and my very own godson, I believe it may be too late.” Dumbledore chuckled at Sirius’ comment. “Thank you.. sir. For the hospitality.”

”Students are always welcomed here at Hogwarts, even past ones will forever have a home inside these walls.”

”You mean, non-murderous ones?” Remus added hopefully.

The headmaster paused and thought to himself with a twinkle in his eye. “Yes, Professor Lupin, perhaps just the non-murderous ones.”


	2. The Trial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter Pettigrew has a trial, convicting him as a murderer and a traitor, and Sirius realizes he’s officially free for the first time in twelve years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the terrible writing in the last chapter. I edited it some, but mostly that was just the introduction of the story.

Siriuc pulled anxiously at a loose string on his new, clean black robes as he stared in the mirror. They matched his washed hair quite well. He hadn’t had much time yesterday, what with avoiding most students while also trying to eat as much food as humanly possible, and Professor McGonagall’s incessant check-ups. He had taken to calling her ‘Professor McGonagall’ again because, although they were both adults, she sent a rather chilling glare at Sirius any time he uttered the name ‘Minerva’ around her.

After taking a proper shower for the first time in twelve years, Sirius attempted to cut his hair, so it wasn’t quite as unruly, with a spell. It worked rather well, although not perfectly, and Sirius knew he’d properly do it after the trial. He decided to tie the top part of it into a loose ponytail so that the bottom hung down to his shoulders, but it was out of his face. Then, he worked on controlling his beard, shaving his neck and the sides of it to give it cleaner edges. After satisfied with his appearance, he returned to Remus Lupin’s chambers, where he’d been gifted a bed, and found a new set of robes with a note from McGonagall on top of the small pile.

**Sirius,**

**These were bought for the trial. Please wear them, and not some ridiculous muggle outfit you try and attempt to retrieve while inside these walls.**

**Dumbledore and I appreciate your effort to not be seen by the student body, as it is largely reducing the amount of rumors throughout the halls. However, after you are cleared tomorrow, Dumbledore would like to introduce you at dinner. Please appear presentable for that as well.**

**Glad to have you with us again, Sirius.**

**Professor McGonagall**

Sirius smiled to himself at how much he knew the Transfiguration professor debated adding in the last part, but he was happy she did. He was glad to be back as well.

 

————

 

Escorted by Professor Dumbledore himself, Sirius Black apparated to the Ministry of Magic after leaving school grounds with the headmaster. Not having a wand to check in, he and the older wizard quickly moved through security and made it down to the trial room near the Department of Mysteries. The room should have been familiar, as Sirius was sentenced to a life in Azkaban, but Sirius had never stepped foot in the court room. The second Sirius was caught, he was shipped off to Azkaban without a chance to explain himself, and nobody ever looked back at him. The Black family heir not once received any visitors during his time in the cell.

Sirius’ skin prickled and he wished Remus was here with him, but the man had lessons to teach as it was a Friday. He briefly heard the introduction and explanation of the case but he didn’t tune in until Wormtail was brought into the room, terrified and small. Sirius  would have felt incredibly angry at the Ministry for scaring one of his best friends into this state, if he had not spent over a decade cursing the man.

Peter spent his time, trapped by leather straps in the hard wooden chair, denying and pleading. It made Sirius furious; how could such a cowardly man ever be considered a Gryffindor? But before he could voice his opinions, Sirius was being brought down to the chair Pettigrew had been removed from moments before. As he sat down, he felt leather straps constricting his wrists. He turned, a look of bewilderment and rage on his face, to Dumbledore, but saw the man was already speaking with the Minister. Fudge nodded reluctantly and sighed, and the straps retracted from Sirius’ limbs.

”Apologies, Mr. Black, there was a misunderstanding,” the Minister said, before going into a long and rambling introduction. Finally, he asked Sirius to explain what happened twelve years ago.

”He was their Secret Keeper,” Sirius muttered, attempting not to explode.

”Excuse me?” The Minister asked, peering over his desk to look at Sirius Black.

”Peter was their Secret Keeper!”

A murmur ran through the jury. ”And I assume by ‘their’ you mean James and Lily Potter’s?”

”Yes,” Sirius replied with clenched teeth.

”But you were James’ best friend! Harry Potter’s godfather!” A witch interjected.

Sirius took a deep breath before proceeding, a vein near his temple portruding. “Which is exactly why I insisted on not being their Secret Keeper. Everyone would have expected it to be me, that was James and Lily’s first reaction. I, stupidly, convinced them that it should be Peter. That, although I would never, even through torture beyond my imagination, reveal their secret, precautions needed to be taken and somebody else, someone more unexpected, should be the Secret Keeper. Remus Lupin, another one of James’ close friends, was away at the time, which is why we settled upon Worm- Peter Pettigrew, to be the Secret Keeper.”

”So you had no idea where James and Lily were when they went into hiding?” The same witch questioned.

”No,” Sirius shook his head. “I only found out after I heard about their murder and Harry’s survival.”

”What happened afterwards?”

”Well, I ran into Rubeus Hagrid who was bringing Harry to his Aunt and Uncle’s house, and begged him to let me take Harry. As Harry’s godfather, I felt it was my duty to protect him, but Hagrid refused. So I went to confront Peter Pettigrew.”

”And you murdered twelve muggles and Pettigrew, as of three days ago.”

The Minister clearly didn’t believe what Sirius had said so far, so Sirius continued. “He and I argued, I reached for my wand so he reached for his, and he casted a spell that exploded the town square around us. He cut off his finger to appear dead, and transformed into his animagus form to escape.”

”Peter Pettigrew is not an animagus!” The Minister shouted, exasperated.

”Not a registered one, no.”

”What, pray tell, is his form then?”

”A rat. More specifically, Tonald Weasley’s pet rat Scabbers. Because of his animagus form he was nicknamed Wormtail in our friend group. We all were animagi, minus Remus of course, as he was a werewolf.”

”None of you are- there is nothing on the animagi registry-“

”We did it to support Remus during full moons, and as we were underage, we could not apply for a license,” Sirius explained simply. “It’s how I escaped from Azkaban. Dementors couldn’t sense dogs, my animagus form, so I slipped out as my cell door was opened to be fed and I escaped, living in a cave by Hogsmeade during the past year.”

Fudge rubbed his forehead, seemingly incredibly disturbed and confused. “You just admitted to escaping prison and being an illegal animagus-“

”Both containing sentences,” Dumbledore interjected, “that added up would be less than twelve years, time Mr. Black has already wrongly served.”

This wasn’t how laws worked, but the Ministry of Magic has never been particularly good at enforcing said laws, and Fudge, pressured by Dumbledore, sighed. “Very well then. If this is all you have to testify-“

”I have one more question,” the witch on the jury interupted. “Why would you laugh while a muggle town burned around you as you were captured?”

The silence in the room was chilling. Sirius paused and thought before he opened his mouth, two minutes later.

”I guess,” he began slowly, “I was in a state of disbelief. The fact that one of my best friends faked his own death after selling my other best friend and his wife out to Lord Voldemort? Leaving a child orphaned, a town destroyed, and me in Azkaban? And through it all, a baby vanquished the most powerful dark wizard of our time? It sounded like a bad dream. A drunken story James would rattle off. I would never expect Peter to fake his own death. It was like a prank we’d pull at school, one we’d laugh at all the way through a month’s worth of detentions.”

Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled at the last sentence. Sirius barely had any life experience outside of Hogwarts, and spending over a decade locked in a cell didn’t help mature him very much. Although he was a decade older, he still acted very similar to his rambunctious teenage self when the darkened and brooding depression slipped away for a few moments.

 

Dumbledore decided that was enough, and took Sirius from the court room. The pair waited in the ministry, running errands for Dumbledore and stopping by to say a hello to Arthur Weasley. 

They were called back to the court room around 2 o’clock that afternoon, the trial having ran for five hours, excepting a lunch break in the middle. 

“The jury has found Peter Pettigrew: guilty of the murder of fourteen, two magical and twelce non-magical folk, as well as being an unregistered animagus and assisting in You-Know-Who’s plot against the wizarding world. He has been sentenced to a life in the wizarding prison Azkaban.” Peter’s blood-curdling shouts were overpowered by the Minister’s voice. “Sirius Black has been cleared of all charges, although both Black and Pettigrew’s name will be added to the animagi registry. Mr. Black, you may pick up your belongings, including your wand, from the Evidence Hold in the Ministry. Court adjourned.”

The room bursted into chatter and Sirius sat, shaking, on the court room bench, not being able to move. Peter screamed in protest as he was dragged off. Sirius felt some remorse for him, wishing the entire thing wasn’t real, but as Peter was guilty, he was glad Peter was convicted as such.

Sirius didn’t even realize he was sobbing until he felt Dumbledore’s hand calm his bouncing shoulders.

”Please, my boy, you are stronger than this,” he said calmly. Sirius nodded and attempted to calm himself down, wiping at his eyes with the palms of his hands.

”Let us go fetch your belongings?”

Sirius stood, shakily, and followed Dumbledore out of the courtroom. He received many weird looks, but nobody called him a murderer, nobody attacked them. Some even seemed to pity Black.

 

”Now,” the ministey official said. “This is just the items that were on you when you were brought in.” He handed over a stack of clothes; jeans, a shirt for that muggle band Lily liked, a leather jacket and some combat boots. Also in the box of items were Sirius’ wand, a money pouch with five less galleons than Sirius remembered (the official avoided his gaze when he raised an eyebrow at this), an odd assortment of charms and jewelery, a couple hair ties, a letter from Remus explaining the events of that Halloween night, and three small pictures: one of teenage Sirius and James with Fleamont and Euphemia Potter standing in the Potter’s mansion’s living room, one of Lily holding Harry in his nursery, both Potters with smiles brighter than anyone could imagine, and one photo, taken by Peter, of Remus asleep in an equally unconscious Sirius Black’s lap.

Sirius replaced all of the items back in the box, except his wand and the last photo, which he stuffed into the pocket of his robes.

”All of your personal belongings collected from your apartment,” the official began again, “were collected by a.. Remus Lupin.” Sirius felt Dumbledore smile next to him. “Your old apartment is no longer yours unfortunately, but your Gringotts vault remains untouched and under your name, and you have inherited the.. Black family home at one Grimmauld Place, including most of the family’s fortune and items inside of it and your parents’ Gringotts vaults.”

Sirius scoffed at the ideas of him ever returning to that wretched building, but signed the release forms granting him ownership of thr Black family fortune. He had his own vault that he could support himself off of, and once he retrieved his belongings from Remus, he could start his life up again, maybe getting an apartment in London with Harry.

He was deep in thought when Dumbledore pulled him out of it, and told him they’d be leaving now. With a pop, both wizards disappeared and reappeared in the town of Hogsmeade.

 

”Sirius Black! In my pub!”

”Hello Rosmerta,” Dumbledore replied calmly. “As you will hear about in tomorrow’s Daily Prophet, Sirius is completely innocent. May we celebrate his official freedom with a couple of butterbeers?”

The witch stuttered for words before turning and preparing the drinks. The last remaining Black slid into a booth across from the headmaster of Hogwarts, and set a box of his belongings down on the seat next to him.

”Congratulations,” Dumbledore toasted as the two received their drinks. Sirius took a sip of his and shook his head. “Been too long since you tasted butterbeer?”

The other man smiled weakly and uttered a faint “Thank you.”


	3. Padfoot and Moony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dumbledore makes an announcement and Sirius and Remus talk to Harry’s DADA class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, I know it’s short, but gimme a break. Also, this is just kind of the way I see Lupin. I know everyone thinks he’s quiet and shy but he’s also a sarcastic prick and Marauder Mastermind that saves Sirius and James and Peter’s arses on plenty of occasions. I see him more calm and confident, somebody who doesn’t speak if he doesn’t have anything to say/doesn’t need to, while Sirius is loud and proud, and James is boisterous. Plus, Remus has a got-bigger-shit-to-deal-with attitude (priorities, ya know?) while Sirius is dramatic about every little fucking thing except for the shit he actually SHOULD be dramatic about. Yay homophobic and abusive Black parents :D

“I would like to silence the speculations and confirm that yes, we are very honored to have a lycanthrope, Professor Lupin, on our staff. However, much to my dismay, Professor Lupin has confirmed that he will not be returning next year.”

The dining hall burst into protests, and Harry was surprised to see a large amount coming from the Slytherin table as well. The large, grim-like dog at his feet barked along. From the teacher’s table at the front of the hall, Remus Lupin smiled softly. He stood and tilted his head down a little in appreciation.

”Thank you all, but teaching was never really where I saw my career heading.” At that, Padfoot made a noise that, if he was in his human form, would have been a sarcastic scoff. “I appreciate the home Hogwarts has given me over the past year, and I am honored to have been your Professor, but I believe after news of my, ah, ‘furry little problem’,” Lupin paused as the hall burst into laughter, Padfoot barking proudly as Sirius first coined the term in their second year.

“After news of that got out, unfortunately, not all will be the same. So while I’ve agreed to see you through the end of the year, next year someone new and exciting will be taking my place. Thank you.”

Dumbledore had a softly sad expression, but when he turned back to the students, his face was calm and sure again. “Lastly, I have an announcement. We have a special guest joining us for the last few weeks of the term. He will not be seeing much of you, but as he may pop in and out of your classes, I figure it is important to let you all know. Mr. Black, if you will please come to the front.”

Gasps ran out as Padfoot slowly built up his speed from a soft pad to a full jog until he was near Dumbledore. There, Sirius morphed back into himself, stopping his jog before he ran straight into Dumbledore.

“This man standing next to me poses no greater threat than Miss Ginny Weasley,” a shout from the Gryffindores erupted, “that is to say, he has an extensive knowledge of hexes and charms that will create quite the sticky situation for you if you attempt to harm him or those he cares about,” Ginny sat back in her seat, smugly. “But he has never, nor will he, take a life of another.”

”Well, I do have a few choice words for my cousin that start with _Avada_ -“

”Thank you, Sirius.” Dumbledore quickly moved on. “I encourage you all to ask him about his experiences with magical defenses as he was a large help in the war against Lord Voldemort.” Almost all students flinched at the name, including the teachers, but Harry stood just as sure as Sirius did at the word.

”I also have quite interesting stories of my days here, althoigh Professor Dumbledore might not want me to tell you about those.”

”No, I suppose not,” Dumbledore replied with a chuckle. “But I cannot emphasize more: Sirius Black is not a danger to you, as he has been cleared of all charges. And, I expect all of you,” his eyes danced over the heads of Harry to a group of Slytherins including Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, “to treat him as a guest for the next few weeks.

”Now! Off to bed with all of you!” Dumbledore clapped his hands and almost immediately the chatter started up again.

 

————

 

Within two days Harry felt as though he’d been asked by everyone in the entire castle whether or not Sirius really was his godfather, to which Harry always proudly, although recently somewhat annoyed, responded yes.

Padfoot was often found in Lupin’s classroom, and occasionally Harry, Ron and Hermione would walk in to see Sirius calmly leaning against the wall, arms crossed in a deep discussion with Professor Lupin. These tended to be the good lessons, as the two men would do a demonstration duel or Sirius would help explain animagi or the difference between _Stupefy_ and _Impedimentia_.

The trio walked in, taking their usual seats in the front of the class as Hermione watched Sirius and Remus with a smile on her face. 

“Oi, Hermione,” Ron started. “What’s that look for?”

”Hm? Oh, nothing, Ron. I’m just so happy Professor Lupin finally found someone who loves him as much as Sirius does, that’s all,” she responded thoughtfully, turning to grab her wand and books out of her bag.

Harry coughed violently, “Erm, what?”

”Oh come _on_. I mean, I know you notice positively nothing, but really Harry? It’s so obvious.”

”L-Lupin and— My godfather is not shagging-“

”Merlin’s sake, Harry, I never said anything about that!”

”Well when would they have even started.. I mean, they haven’t seen each other in over ten years.”

”They did live in the same room for seven years, and were inseparable. Your dad and Peter were with them always too.”

Harry’s face darkened. “Don’t mention his name.”

Sirius glanced briefly over Remus’ shoulder, but his eyes drifted back to Harry and his mouth paused in conversation as he noticed his godson’s expression.

”Everything alright Harry?” He called from the front of the room, pushing off the wall. He walked over, crouching next to Harry’s desk.

“Just.. Wormtail. That’s all.”

Sirius clenched his jaw, a similar dark look clouding his eyes, but he forced a smile in spite of it. “Forget about it. He’s where he belongs now.”

Professor Lupin cleared his throat, glancing at Sirius to quiet down mostly, and the older man returned to his spot on the wall.

”Today, since we only have two more days before the end of term and you all have finished your examinations, will be a free period, however I encourage you all to practice duelling as you will not be able to practice over the summer. Sirius will help me demonstrate— yes, Miss Granger?”

Hermione’s hand had confidently shot up in the air at the mention of Sirius’ name.

“Professor, excuse me if I’m wrong, but are you and Sirius together?”

Ron groaned as Harry paled. The class whispered and Sirius, who had been picking at his cuticle, nearly slid off the wall. He blushed deeply and Remus, who had two hands on his desk behind him and his legs crossed in front of his body as he stood leaning against his desk, beckoned Sirius over. He casually slung an arm around the other man’s waist.

”While highly unrelated to the topic at hand that I should be teaching you, Miss Granger, I guess I could explain the story,” he added as the entire class seemed to be on the edge of their seats. Even, Harry had to double-take to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, even _Draco Malfoy_ seemed interested. “Siriu— Mr. Black and I, were in the same year at Hogwarts as many of you know, and we were both Gryffindors. Spending seven years sleeping in the same room as him had some affect on the situation at hand,” Sirius curled into himself a little, looking like he’d rather sink into the floor than stand in front of a class of thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds as Remus explained their history.

”But during our sixth year, we  indeed became romantically involved. Our relationship—oh come now Sirius stop blushing—continued throughout the war, but after his sentence we somewhat unofficially separated. He and I have recently decided to reconcile the relationship.”

”Is that why the house-elves removed the extra bed in your chambers?” Lavendar Brown had asked, and Harry had never seen a grown man, and never expected it from Sirius, look that embarrassed. A mumble, that sounded like a curse word, passed Sirius’s lips and Remus, having been the only one to hear it since he was directly next to Sirius, laughed and muttered something back.

”Yes, Miss Brown, Sirius has been sleeping in my bed recently.”

Harry shared Sirius’ enbarrassment as the man groaned. “Come on, Moons, you could’ve at least had the decency to only tell fifth years and up. They’re practically babies!”

”Sirius, do you remember what you were doing in your third year?” Remus laughed as Sirius lowered his head.

”Attempting to become an illegal animagus.” He grinned though, as the class laughed with him.

Professor Lupin clasped his hands together. “Enough stories, please, let’s move the desks out of the way— there we go. Mr. Wealey, please duel Mr. Longbottom this time, therefore Miss Granger and Mr. Potter can duel each other— perfect, that should be evenly matched.”

Harry felt honored that Professor Lupin felt as if he could be the same level at DADA as Hermione.

”Oh come now, you’ve fought You-Know-Who, and won, three times!” She hissed as Harry expressed his concern.

”I had help.. plus I was a baby that one time,” Harry muttered, but Hermione distracted him by calling out _Expelliarmus_ , and Harry was preoccupied with dodging her spells.

He hsd to admit, he did hold his own, and more, for most of the class period. The first time either one of them managed to land a hit on the other was when Harry became distracted again. He saw Sirius—who had been walking through the pairs like Professor Lupin, correcting incantations and wand heights—stop to talk with Malfoy.

”Sorry Harry!” Hermione called out as his wand flew out of his hand and across the room. He shook his head in forgiveness and walked to retrieve his wand, taking extra time as it was near Sirius and Malfoy.

The two were in deep conversation, and not about duelling as Pansy Parkinson had turned to Millicent Bullstrode to begin chatting as her partner, Malfoy, wasn’t paying attention. Malfoy kept fidgeting and Sirius’ expression was, well, serious but also calm. He reached out an arm and placed a comforting hand on Malfoy’s shoulder, and Harry barely caught the words “Stop by tonight” as he returned to Hermione.

She sent him a knowing look, one that said _you’re thinking too much and I’m not sure if I’m going to like what your thoughts are about_ , but he shook his head again, and the pair returned to their duelling until the end of class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think Sirius is going to meet with Malfoy about?? Comment what you think!


	4. An Eventful Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was a dream, but it was a memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like the idea of Draco turning against his father so expect some of that in this fic.. also I planned out what I wanted to be in this story and it should be probably under 10 chapters in total, so I estimated 7. I might write more than that, we’ll see! :D

Slipping his father’s invisibility cloak over his shoulders, Harry paused by the door of the Gryffindor third-year boy’s dormitory. He took a quick glance at Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus and, content that they were all asleep, slipped out of the room. He quietly trotted down the stairs and crossed the common room, arriving at the portrait.

Once out of the Gryffindor common room, Harry quietly moved through the castle to Professor Lupin’s office where, in a room off the main chamber, he knew Sirius and Remus would be getting ready for bed. He could hear a third person moving around in Professor Lupin’s office and knew it was Malfoy, but he couldn’t quite make out what his godfather and the Slytherin were saying. He pressed his ear closer to the key hole and heard whispers. Slowly but surely, he started to make out the words.

” _Harry. Harry. Harry._ Harry.”

The Gryffindor realized, with horror, that the voice calling out to him wasn’t Malfoy or Sirius’. He jumped, whipping around with his wand out, expecting to find Peeves, perhaps.

Instead, Harry was met with a hard surface connecting with his entire body.

 

————

 

“Harry. Harry? Mate, are you okay? That was a fuckin’ violent jump.”

Harry Potter opened his eyes and was met with wooden floorboards. He groaned and attempted to push himself up, but couldn’t see anything. He groped around the floor and a hand connected to a bright red head of hair handed Harry his glasses.

”’Morning, Ron,” Harry mumbled. He sat up properly, his back against his bed in Grimmauld Place. Ron was sitting on his own bed, next to Harry’s, looking concerned but also mildly amused.

”You okay? You were tossing and turning, muttering something about Sirius and I was worried it was another nightmare.”

Harry shook his head, running a hand through his hair like he always did when he was either worried or deep in thought.. or both.

”It was a dream.. not a bad one, though. More like a memory. Remember the day Sirius sat in on one of our DADA classes and Remus explained their history? In our third year?”

”Yeah..” Ron said slowly. “Why were you dreaming about that?”

”Dunno,” Harry replied honestly. He stretched and rubbed his face, standing up to throw himself back on the bed. “I’ve been thinking about Malfoy a lot, what with Lucius in Azkaban. The bloke has to be training to replace his wretched father as a Death Eater. Think I’m just tryna remember as much about him as I can. Ergh, it’s stressing my brain out.”

Ron watched Harry curiously. “What does Malfoy have to do with Lupin?”

Harry snorted. “Wish you’d just call him ‘Remus’, Ron. He’s practically my uncle, and you’re practically my brother.”

”Sorry, I see him more as our Professor. Didn’t spend as much time with him after third year since he and Sirius didn’t invite _me_ to their flat before the Quidditch World Cup. Plus, last year he was off on Order missions all the bloody time.”

”Don’t remind me,” Harry said darkly, shaking his head. Every time Remus came back to Grimmauld Place after a mission for the Order, he was exhausted and had more scars. If he was gone during a full moon, Sirius and Harry would spend that night wide awake, hoping he was okay. After those missions, the werewolf often came back looking like death.

Harry began caring for Remus as he did for Sirius over the summer he spent mostly with them. Of course, Dumbledore made him stay with the Dursleys for a few weeks at the beginning of the summer before his fourth year. But after that, Sirius picked him up on his motorcycle, driving it on the road until they were out of sight of muggles and he flew it to the city.

Sirius had moved into Remus’ flat in London, and Harry was to be staying with them until he went with the Weasleys to the Quidditch World Cup. Sirius wanted to go with him, but neither he nor Remus had the money for tickets, and no matter how much Harry begged, Sirius refused to dip into his family’s fortune.

Besides that, Harry had enjoyed the odd environment of living with his two uncles, as he referred to them in his head. It was quite urban and different from Little Whinging, but Harry loved it. He enjoyed spending entire days roaming the city, with or without Remus and/or Sirius. Sometimes he’d go off on his own to explore, either to get his mind off of things and let it wander with his legs, or because a nightmare or memory was being particularly devilish to him and he needed to be alone. He would pop into muggle stores or hidden magical shops, keeping both galleons and pounds on him whenever he went into the city to buy supplies for himself or the apartment, or sometimes sweets for his uncles.

Remus and Sirius let him have his space most of the time. That summer, before Voldemort’s return, they weren’t terribly busy with the Order, so they mostly were occupied with their jobs. Sirius worked in a muggle record store, but also was a bartender at a wizard bar on nights and on weekends. Remus, meanwhile, had exceptionally difficult times finding jobs in the wizarding community, and his scars often scared muggles. He managed to get a job at a nearby muggle university’s library, though.

He did have some difficulty with references.

(“I’ve never heard of.. Hogwarts?”

“Oh, it’s an elite boarding school in Scotland. Feel free to contact the headmaster.”

“Du-Dumbledore?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Interesting.. now you say you’re an author? What do you write?”

“Informational texta on, er, fictional beasts. Werewolves, mostly.”

“Oh? What got you interested on that topic?”

“The, erm, extensive background and variances in their history and treatment depending on cultural beliefs.”)

But eventually, Remus got the job, and worked Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays in the library. Sirius formed his schedule so he was working at the record store Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays all day, then bartended Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Wednesdays were impossible for Harry to slip away, since it was the only day his uncles both had off, and they’d have “family outings.” Remus’ favorite being to visit a small art gallery of modern London artists ran by one of his friends and fellow werewolves. Harry always tried to get Lupin get a job there, since he soent so many hours helping out or visiting but the man always refused, insisting he could never ask his friend to pay him since he didn’t have the money to.

Harry managed to work at the record store with Sirius on Tuesdays, and he baby-sat the muggle neighbor’s 5-year-old, named Teddy, on Friday evenings. It gave him some extra muggle money, and it allowed Remus to go to the bar Sirius worked at on Fridays. 

Often times, Harry found himself missing the summer he turned fourteen. It was his first positive experience living in a muggle area. He also missed Teddy terribly, who was positively adorable, but occasionally he and Sirius would visit him when Harry was on vacation. Teddy’s parents, Ted and Nancy, weren’t too approving of Remus’ scars, but Teddy loved tracing them, and whenever Harry would visit, he’d ask about Remus.

 

”Oi, mate,” Ron called out, dragging Harry for the second time that morning out of his thoughts. “No changing the subject. What do Sirius and Lu- Remus, have to do with Malfoy?”

Harry shrugged off his daydream and turned to Ron. “He had been talking to Sirius about something that day. I dreamt that instead of forgetting about it like I actually did, I followed him to where he met Sirius that night. Was tryna figure out what they were saying when you woke me up.”

”Sorry,” Ron mumbled, the tips of his ears turning pink. “How about breakfast? Mum’s got to have finished it by now, tons of the Order are here, by the way.”

”Any idea why?” Harry asked as he and Ron walked down the hallway towards the stairs. Ron simply shrugged and followed his dark-haired friend to the dining room.

”Harry, m’ boy!” Arthur Weasley was overly affectionate to Harry that morning, clapping him hard on the back as Harry entered the room.

Harry coughed as the too-strong pat stung his back. “Good morning, Mr. Weasley. What’s all this about?” Harry gestured to the feast on the table and the tens of Order members at the table, but Arthur merely laughed him off, and returned to his wife.

Mundungus Fletcher was conversing with Fred and George Weasley, which looked like it was making Molly Weasley, the twins’ mother, quite nervous. Across from the twins sat Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson, Fred and George’s respective partners, and Harry’s old Quidditch teammates.

Sirius Black was watching his godson with a smile on his face and an arm around Remus’ shoulders, the younger man discussing a mission quietly with Nymphadora Tonks, a woman with neon blue hair and olive-toned skin today. Mad-Eye Moody, an ex-auror with one eye that could see through solid objects, was also at the table and was laughing with Kingsley Shacklebolt, a dark-skinned wizard.

Harry was astonished to see Professor Dumbledore there, as the headmaster was rarely inside Grimmauld Place. Near him sat Professors McGonagall and Snape. Sirius was pointedly not looking at the latter. Other wizards that Harry didn’t recognize, some of whom stopped their conversations when he walked in, were sat around the large table. Harry took a seat between Ginny Weasley and Ron sat on the other side of him; Ron across from Remus, Ginny across from Hermione, and Harry from Sirius.

”Good morning, Harry,” an airy voice called. He leaned around Ginny to see a blonde girl in mismatching pyjamas with four different necklaces around her neck.

”Hullo Luna,” Harry replied. “I didn’t realize you were staying here.”

”Oh, I’m not,” she chirped happily. “Honestly, it’s quite abysmally depressing here, and the infestation of magical creatures is quite atrocious, especially after I heard about your godfather’s attenpt to remove them. No, I’m simply here because Ginny wanted to show off her girlfriend to her older brother’s lovely fiancée.”

”Phlegm is _not_ lovely,” Ginny muttered through a clenched jaw.

Harry, choosing to ignore the comment, changed the topic. “Oh, Bill is here?”

”Yeah,” Ginny sighed, leaning back in her black sweat pants and bright yellow sports bra. “Charlie too. The whole family is here. Mum and Remus spent the morning expanding the room with charms so we could fit everybody in.”

”Why is practically the entire Order here?”

”Harry,” Ginny said quizically. “How don’t you know”

”Know what?”

”Well, that does explain your outfit. I’d go change if I were you.”

”Wh-why?”

”Just trust me. GO,” she said, shoving him out of his seat.

Harry, bewildered, took her word for it, as Ginny had never lead him wrong. He left his temporarily uneaten breakfast and jogged upstairs, taking off the ratty t-shirt and pyjama bottoms and exchanging them for a deep purple button-up that complimented his toned brown arms nicely and a new pair of light-colored jeans Sirius bought him. He traded his slippers for leather boots and rolled the sleeves of his shirt up to his forarms as he’d seen Sirius do a thousand times.

He slipped back into the room and caught Sirius’ eye. The man gave him a quick nod of approval and he sat back down next to Ginny.

”Bloody hell that was fast,” Ron noted. Ginny smirked.

”He’s initiation-ready.”

”Initia- what?!”

Harry didn’t get a chance to figure out what she meant because before she could respond, Dumbledore had stood and silenced the room. He asked Harry to stand, and the boy did, all attention swiveling to him. He nudged Ginny’s shoulder with his hand in appreciation and she smiled to herself.

”Harry, your godfather has been telling me about your incessant complaints to join the Order,” Dumbledore begins. Had the man not had a twinkle in his eye, Harry would’ve been quite embarrassed, but he knew the older wizard was simply teasing. So Harry nodded shyly.

”Now, most in this room—all, in fact, excepting two Weasley children, Miss Lovegood and Miss Granger—are already members of the Order.” Fred and George, who were now legally adults in the wizarding world, grinned. “The Order typically does not typically dream of ever recruiting underage wizards, Harry.”

Snape grumbled somewhat at this bit and Sirius, who had been beaming up at Harry, sent the Professor a death glare.

”But, given the.. _exceptional_ circumstances of this war, and of yourself, we feel confident in the decision to offer you a spot as a member of the Order of the Phoenix a year early.”

Harry was speechless. He’d been trying to get into Order meetings for two summers now, and finally Dumbledore was giving him the opportunity to sit with the other members and discuss Voldemort’s plans.

”Y-yes. Yes, I’d be honored,” Harry croaked out.

”Dumbledore,” a soft but firm voice spoke, “I know we have spoken about this before, but I’d like to repeat my opinion in the presence of Harry before he decides. I believe that, should they be sitting here with us today, James and Lily Potter would have refused to allow their son to join the Order.”

Protests arose from the four youngest Weasleys, Harry, Sirius and Tonks. Harry loved his uncle very much, but honestly, right now he wished to hex the werewolf.

”Now, I know— Sirius come now, will you just listen? Sirius and I are the closest things Harry has to parents—“

”I hardly think that is fair, Remus!” Molly Weasley interjected.

”Apologies. Sirius, Molly and Arthur, and I are the closest things Harry has to parents currently. I knew them well-“

”I was James’ best friend!”

”-And despite Sirius’ protests, I believe that it is my responsibility, _our_ responsibility, as his somewhat-adopted parents to not allow him to join.”

”James would’ve wanted-“

”What, Sirius, to endanger his child? To throw the boy he loved more than anything into fighting the war at sixteen? To put him on the front lines? He and Lily- They sacrificed everything, Sirius, _everything._ ” Remus’ voice was shakey but had effectively silenced everybody in the room. Harry had never seen him snap at Sirius. “Everything, for Harry. You landed in Azkaban for twelve years, Peter was there until he escaped with the likes of Bellatrix Lestrange, because of that sacrifice. You honestly believe he would’ve been _proud_ of Harry? Not _concerned_?” 

The werewolf’s eyes were tear-filled but hard as he stared into Sirius’. The pureblood opened his mouth to form words, but none came.

”Remus,” Harry surprised everyone, including himself, by speaking. “I know you simply are worried for me, but this is my choice. And I still accept, Professor Dumbledore.”

The headmaster nodded. “Because of your worry, Remus, I can promise you that until he has had 17 full years of life experience, Harry will not be assigned a mission outside of Hogwarts castle without supervision from me.”

Remus, still somewhat bothered with the situation, sighed and nodded in appreciation, but he did not meet Harry’s eyes.

”Very well. Harry, we shall meet often to discuss Order matters and I will give you information and possible assignments during those meetings. I must be getting back to the school, but thank you for a lovely breakfast Molly,” she nodded in response and Dumbledore turned back to the underage Order member. “Welcome to the Order.”

With a _Pop!_ , Dumbledore disapparated before Harry could reply. Conversation returned to the large room, and Harry received shouts of congratulations. He sunk dejectedly and nervously back into his seat.

”Bet you’re glad you changed now,” gloated Ginny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes! I do in fact see Harry as mixed-race, mostly from @upthehillart on tumblr’s influence on me (although she draws him as Indian). Lily was fair-skinned, but the rest of the Potters I imagine as African-English. Yayyyy POC characters! See how easily and subtely it is to slip in POC characters and LGBTQ+ characters? A couple extra words and you know Harry’s mixed-race, and Ginny and Luna are together. (Ginny in my hc is pansexual and Luna identifies as asexual but queer-romantic.) 
> 
> Anyways, I hope y’all enjoyed that chapter, leave a comment and tell me what you thought!


	5. Drarry in a broom cupboard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The summer before sixthh year goes by quickly, and Harry bonds more and more with Sirius. Drarry ensues

The last few weeks of the summer before Hermione, Harry and Ron’s sixth year at Hogwarts quickly slipped by. They played Wizard’s Chess and experimented with a few of Fred and George’s inventions to pass the time. Luna had left a few days after Harry’s “initiation,” so she wasn’t around to tell them entertaining stories. Remus and Sirius spent most of the remaining holiday tiding up the manor even more, occasionally dipping out for short Order missions, and enjoying each other’s company. Harry’s uncles, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, took Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry into Diagon Alley that last Wednesday before the kids’ return to Higwarts.

Remus was chatting with Ginny, the two trading coming-out stories, when an ice-cold silence ran thrrough the eight-person group. They had seen Draco Malfoy with his mother, Narcissa, walking out of a potions supply shop. Much to Harry’s surprise, the Malfoy son caught his godfather’s eye and the two shared a small nod.

”Horrid woman, his mother,” Sirius sighed.

”Though not as terrible as old Walburga Black now, eh?” Remus joked, patting Sirius’ shoulder.

”No, I suppose not,” he hummed. “Although I prefer Andromeda out of the sisters I have to claim as cousins.”

”Malfoy’s mother is your cousin?” Harry said, incredulously.

”Harry, all of the purebloods are connected somehow. Inbredsing, really. I’ve always hated the idea, but most marry their distant cousins to protect the sanctity of blood status. Jame, as well as Molly and Arthur, I suppose, all have distant relatives in common with me. The Black family is quite noble, after all,” Sirius finished, wrinkling his nose in disgust. “Haven’t I told you this before?”

”Probably,” Harry responded with a shrug a shit-eating grin. “Pureblood family trees are stored with the information about the goblin wars in my head: things I should know and have been taught, but ultimately will rely on Hermione for.”

Remus threw his head back and laughed loudly, clutching his stomach. Harry was surprised, as the man didn’t often show emotions that strong. Sirius punched his boyfriend’s shoulder and grinned, “Didn’t James once say the same thing in reference to Lily’s family except about you?”

Remus clutched onto Sirius, wheezing, wiping a tear out of his eye. “Definitely. Oh Harry, you’re going to be the death of me one day.”

Harry felt a surge of warm proudness flood through his body and held his head a littke higher.

”Merlin’s beard, will you two stop drawing attention to us?! Look, Olivander’s is closed.”

Mrs. Weasley, who was often sour anytime Harry and James’ similarity was mentioned, pointed to a shattered store front that was boarded up. Remus quickly frowned and removed himself from Sirius.

”Sorry, Molly,” Sirius muttered. Harry noticed his eyes returning to the spot where they had seen the Malfoys, but Harry thought better than to mention it.

 

————

 

Besides a quick trip to visit a new Professor with Dumbledore, that trip to buy supplies was the last of Harry’s summer. He was standing on Plaftorm 9 3/4 with Remus and Sirius after having hugged Mrs. Weasley goodbye. Hermione and Ron had promised to meet Harry on the train after their prefect duties were completed and hurried off.

Remus was telling a story about how “James was a right git this one time” during the marauders’ sixth year, and Sirius was hugging him goodbye.

”Do me a favor Remus?” Harry asked, interrupting his uncle’s story.

”Anything, Harry.”

”Please stop talking.”

Sirius barked with laughter and had to pull Harry back into another hug as Remus shoved Sirius.

”Pricks.”

Harry thought Sirius was going to respond to Remus when he opened his mouth, but instead he whispered something very quietly and very concerning.

”Keep an eye on Draco this year for me, Harry. A close eye, and don’t be too much of an arsehole to him. If he goes to you for help, I need you to help him and contact me. This is very important. Do you think you can do that?”

Remus had suddenly become very interested in the train station’s decor.

”Can you?” Sirius urged.

”Yes, yes of course I can, Sirius, but why-“

”Do me a favor, don’t tell Dumbledore?”

Harry’s godfather had his hands on Harry’s shoulders, bending down slightly to look Harry in the eyes, his expression stony and his gray eyes suddenly cool and unforgiving. Not unlike Malfoy’s.

”I— Is this an Order mission or-“

Sirius shook his head and stood up, warmth returning to his face as he clapped a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “Have a good time this year Harry, and it better be too much of a good time, or else you aren’t my godson! Quickly now, before the train leaves, off you go.”

Sirius Black wasn’t one to shoo anybody anywhere, but there he was, shooing Harry away and leaving the sixteen-year-old utterly confused.

 

————

 

Harry did pay extra close attention to Malfoy this year, possibly dangerously close attention. He noticed immediately that the boy was perpetually tapping his index finger against his thigh or his desk, a piece of parchment or his jaw. It seemed to be a nervous tick. The theory fit in well with the fact that, although all sixth years were stressed about their amount of work, even Hermione wasn’t as close to the edge of a breakdown as Malfoy. At first, it was cool and subtle. His sarcastic remarks were no longer childish and teasing, not even antagonistic like his father’s, but venemous and precise, and bone-chillingly cold. He made Pansy Parkinson run out in the middle of a Slytherin Charms class sobbing without raising his voice after saying a mere twenty words, as rumors had it. But that didn’t stop her from waiting on him hand-and-foot the next day.

All of the Slytherins seemed to be terrified of him, moreso than usual, except for Blaise Zabini. No, Zabini was living it up as Malfoy’s personal lap dog. The two were inseparable, and even though murmurs of Zabini cheating on Malfoy with a different boy, or girl, spread every week, the two maintained their status as the most-feared couple in Hogwarts. Even most seventh years wouldn’t come near the two.

They had Crabbe and Goyle as personal body guards, and Pansy Parkinson as their press manager practically, but Malfoy seemed to be slipping away from his tightly-knit group more and more.

Malfoy seemed sleek and untouchable at the beginning of the year, but as the year moved on, he fell through the cracks. During November there were three weeks where he was positively disheveled. He barely made it to his classes, he was constantly shaking, and Harry noticed that it looked as though he hadn’t slept in weeks. His smooth and snappy remarks turned into violent outbursts, and he kept running his hands through his hair. One potions class he kept doing it over and over again, his face full of anger any time Pansy spoke, until Zabini had to grab his boyfriend’s hands and calm him down.

”She won’t fucking stop talk-“

”Shhh, I know, Draco, I know.”

The darker boy would press his lips to Malfoy’s and comfort him. By the time Harry looked away, his stomach was doing flips, clearly in worry of what Draco was doing that was making him so broken. If it could do that to Malfoy, it clearly must be bad. And, of course, Harry’s throat was tight at the sight of Zabini comforting Malfoy because, obviously, he was concerned about Sirius’ warning. That was all.

 

————

 

One evening in November, Harry climbed the stairs back to the Gryffindor common room alone. He had lost his appetite after Ron and Hermione fought, Ron moving to sit with Lavendar and Hermione with Ginny.

He was deep in thought, his tie loosened around his neck and his hands buried in his pockets as his robes swiftly billowed behind him, when he bumped into Malfoy. Who promplty pulled Harry into a dark closet.

”Malfoy— Ow— What the bloody fuck?!”

”Oi, shut it, prick. Will you stop whining? Filch’ll hear us, and I don’t want to explain why I’m in a broom cupboard with The Chosen One.”

”Why _are_ you in a broom cupboard with The Chosen One?” Harry asked suspiciously. “Because if you think this is some revenge plan against Zabini cheating on you, know that I’m not bent—“

”My boyfriend’s sexual habits are none of your concern, and of course you’re bent. Now can we please talk about Black?!”

”I am not— Wait, what?”

”Your godfather, Sirius Black. I assume he.. talked to you?”

”He told me to not be a complete git to you and to keep an eye on you, yeah.”

”Of course he did. Did he tell you _why_?”

”Of course not, Malfoy, nobody tells me anything.”

”Of course they don’t, Potter, you’re an idiot.”

”Of course you think that, Malfoy, because it takes one to fucking know one doesn’t it?”

Harry and Malfoy had gotten uncomfortably close to one another in their anger, and Harry felt a blush creep up his neck. “Why’re you so close to me?”

There was a pause.

Then, Malfoy took a step back and turned around, pacing slightly in the tiny cupboard. “The reason why Black and I have been communicating— Would you pay attention? This is important.”

Harry swallowed and nodded. Malfoy stilled, breathing in a sigh. “The Dark Lord wanted me to become a Death Eater.”

There was a loud swear and a shot of red and Malfoy was slammed against the wall.

”Shit, Malfoy, bloody hell! You don’t just tell that to people when you’re two feet away from them and they have a hand on their wand!”

”Well I didn’t know you were holding your wand or I wouldn’t have _told_ you,” Malfoy groaned, peeling himself off the wall. “Nice of you to say sorry, though.”

”Sorry,” Harry muttered, hastily stashing his wand away in his robes.

”As I was _saying_ , the Dark Lord asked me to become a Death Eater, most likely as punishment for you and your friends getting my father caught at the Ministry last year.”

”Well, Voldemort made me think Sirius was—“

”Please don’t speak his name.” Malfoy’s cold and silvery tone from the beginning of the year returned, but it disappeared as quickly as it came, and Malfoy continued. “And bloody hell, Sirius was perfectly fine!”

”Yes, but when Vold- _You-Know-Who_ , uses occlumency on you—“

”—I’m sure to protect myself against it like any decently trained wizard interacting with the Dark Lord.”

Harry wasn’t quite prepared for Malfoy’s retort, and the Slytherin used the break to continue his story. “He attempted to brand me with the Dark Mark, but my mother intelligently put a charm that made it appear as if the Mark was there, but really protected my skin from the ghastly design.

”Unfortunately, it didn’t work entirely and I was left with this.” Malfoy gracelessly tugged his shirt sleeve up, revealing a deep and brilliantly white scar on his forearm. It wasn’t quite the shape of the Dark Mark, but there was a long line vertical on his arm, with smaller lines coming off of it. It looked painful and Malfoy’s grimace as he looked at it reenforced that idea.

“But the Dark Lord doesn’t know it isn’t on my arm. Immediately after he cast the spell, it appeared to be there, but it faded to this nasty thing two days later.” Malfoy rolled his sleeve back down.

”Is that why all the Slytherins fear you? Because they think you have it?”

Malfoy nodded. “Blaise knows it isn’t real, but he’s the only one. Parkinson, she’s just a right pain in the arse, and the others too. The only problem is, the Dark Lord assigned me a task and, morally, I refuse to do it. Which means I haven’t began working on it. And while at Hogwarts, he can’t contact or monitor me, but over the Christmas holiday.. my mother wants me to return home but she knows that if I do, the Dark Lord will have access to me and he’ll know it’s all been a lie. And anywhere else.. well, we’re only on good terms with the Dark Lord’s following.”

”So,” Harry said slowly, his brain catching up. “You’re saying you need Sirius to protect you over school break?” 

“Yes, you dimwitted-“

”Careful,” Harry cut in, grinning. “I choose whether or not Sirius gets your little message.”

”You arse,” Malfoy said curtly.

”Elegant wording, Malfoy.”

”Will you ask him or not?!”

Harry opened his mouth to respond to the outburst of anger, but saw the genuine fear in Malfoy’s eyes. “I’ll talk to him. Does your mother need a place to stay as well?”

Malfoy shook his head. “I’ll send her an owl saying I will be staying with you this break and she can pretend to disown me. The Dark Lord won’t touch her since she isn’t tied to it.”

”If you’re sure..”

”Positive.”

The two boys from opposing houses paused, hearing students exit the dining hall and begin to climb the stairs towards where they were headed.

”I’ll leave first, Potter. Wait at least five minutes before you follow.”

Before Harry could protest, Malfoy was shoving past him and into the sea of students. Harry only waited two minutes, but his back was cramping from hunching over in the tiny closet, so he decided to leave. Plus, he caught sight of Ginny’s hair and decided she would be neutral territory in the Ron V. Hermione war.

 

————

 

Harry sent an owl to Sirius to tell his godfather to meet him in Hogsmeade on the last Saturday of November, as Harry had “news.”

”Good to see you, Harry.” Sirius Black held Harry in a tight hug before sitting down across from him at a table in the Three Broomsticks. Harry casted a quick spell that obstructed anyone from listening in on their conversations, and Sirius quirked an eyebrow up. “Where’d you learn that one?”

Harry shook his head. “Some old book.. It’s become quite handy after all the attention I’ve been getting as The Chosen One.”

Sirius barked out a laugh. “I suppose so. You’re father loved any kind of attention, you know. It must be the Lily in you..” He trailed off looking fondly at Harry, before moving his eyes all around the pub. “Merlin, this reminds me of just sitting here with James in our fourth year. It was a full moon the night before on of out Hogsmeade trips, so Peter stayed with Remus. James and I’d tried to, but we’d been talking about going to Zonko’s for _weeks_ to stock up for a prank and Remus made us go. We spent the day, just the two of us, walking around Hogsmeade, laughing our heads off and saying hello to everybody. We were quite to popular kids back then.”

A thought popped into Harry’s head.

“You and—erm, or Remus, really—and my dad were never.. _involved._  Right?”

Sirius chuckled. “Your dad and I were inseparable, but in a different way than Remus and I. Although, I suppose there were a few nights, drunk on firewhiskey, where some things happened and were said that probably would not have otherwise, but no. Moony and I never felt that way about him. And your father was, although not straight, never interested in me or Moony either.”

”I can’t imagine why. I mean, the two of you, especially when you were my age? Must’ve been irresistible.”

”I’d like to think so too Harry.” Sirius grinned into his butterbeer.

”What do you mean my dad wasn’t straight? Wasn’t he head-over-heels for Mom?” Harry asked carefully.

”Absolutely. But—surely you know this, Harry—just because James wasn’t straight didn’t mean he didn’t love women, particularly Lily. There was the occasional guy here or there from about third year to seventh, before Lily came around. I think he and Kingsley Shacklebolt had a thing for about a month. But there were other girls as well before your mother agreed to date him. This doesn’t bother you, does it?”

”Oh, of course not,” Harry quickly shook his head. “I’ve lived with you and Remus for a couple of years now. I just.. was intrested in how similar Dad and I were.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow at Harry’s blush. “Does that mean-“

”I’m not sure just yet,” Harry rushed out. Sirius chuckled, but placed a hand over Harry’s. 

“And that’s perfectly fine. I thought I was as straight as an arrow until Remus told us he was gay and I finally noticed my feelings towards him. Of course, I apparently needed to shag my way through my emotions first, but eventually I realized I was bi.”

Harry smiled softly at the image of Sirius and Remus together, walking down the hallways at Hogwarts with their hands connected and arms swinging. Or falling asleep on each other in the Gryffindor common room before exams. They always seemed perfect together. “Was this your news, Harry?”

”Huh? Oh, er, no. Malfoy spoke with me, actually.” Harry took a sip of butterbeer as Sirius watched him before continuing with the story. “Pulled me into a broom cupboard, actually.”

”Hey now, I do not need to know where my godson gets it.”

”Gets wha- Ew! No! Pads, come _on_ , not me and Malfoy, ergh.” Sirius playfully swatted at Harry’s shoulder. “No, he just wanted to talk away from his following. They’ve been on him since term started. Crabbe and Goyle like usual, but Parkinson’s become his mother, trying to dictate everything he does. Plus, now Zabini’s hanging off of Malfoy every second he’s not shagging somebody else..”

”Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini, huh? I should’ve seen that one coming. Anyways, continue.”

”Yeah well, he pulled me into the closet to show me the fact that everyone thinks he has a Dark Mark, but it isn’t really there. His mother made Voldemort think Draco had it, but it faded in two days. Something went wrong though, it’s a pretty nasty scar.”

”Ouch,” Sirius winced, him and Remus having extensive experiences with scars. “Is he okay?”

”Physically, he seems fine. He seemed collected at the beginning of the year, but he’s losing it. He’s fucking terrified of having to go home for the holidays. That’s why he wants to stay with us.”

”Well, I don’t see why not.”

”No!” Harry shouted unexpectedly. “I mean, I don’t want to spend my vacation with an arse like him.”

”Harry, I know you don’t, but this isn’t about your petty fights since first year.” Sirius’ voice had gone stern and Harry slumped in his chair. “This is about making sure an abused boy is saved, making sure that the innocent are protected. Plus, behind all the racism and elitism Lucius beat into him, Draco might actually be kind. You two have a lot in common.”

An image of himself, although more entitled and not a wizard, appeared in Harry’s mind. And he was scarily like Draco in the image. If the Dursley’s had given him ancestral leg to stand on, he could’ve been the muggle version of Draco Malfoy.

 

————

 

Harry quickly gave Draco the news that he was welcome at Grimmauld Place over the holidays, and the old, new Draco snapped back into place. He was stony and a git, but his clothes fit him again, he went back to sleeping and eating, and his temper was controlled a lot better than before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yooo the response on this fic is really awesome and super motivating. Thanks guys!! Please feel free to leave kudos or comments if you like the story!!


	6. A Lonely “Welcome Home”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco and Blaise split, and Harry sees much less of Remus and Sirius than he prefers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I worked on this chapter SO MUCH. So much editing, gah. If you catch any errors let me know so I can fix them!!

“Zabini, lower your voice, this is not a public matter.”

”Not a public matter?! Harry Potter leaving a broom cupboard with my boyfriend, not a public matter?! Everything that boy _does_ is a public matter!”

”It is not for the rest of the school to sit through during their breakfast.”

”What were the two of you even doing?!”

”Talking.”

”Talking?!”

”Are you going to repeat everything I say? Yes, Blaise, talking.”

Ron shot a worried look at Harry across the Gryffindor table. The Quidditch Captain had pulled Draco into a closet to give him the news of having an available house over the holidays, but unfortunately, he had not been as subtle as Draco and others began to talk.

On the other side of the dining hall, where the Slytherins sat, a very loud, very public, argument was brewing. Even from the opposite side of the hall, Harry could hear it. Although Draco was keeping his voice down, Zabini was not in any way being quiet, and it drew most of the dining hall’s attention to the pair.

”I don’t believe you.” Blaise Zabini had crossed his arms, piercing his eyes into Draco’s cold grey ones. Zabini’s sharp jawline was firm, his usually beautiful appearance became frighteningly nasty, not unlike his mother’s.

”Believe what you want, but while we’re on the subject, would you like to tell me what happened between you and Hannah Abott? Or what about Nott? Parkinson? Terry Boot? Michael Corner?”

Ginny had to laugh at the last name as memories of her first ex surfaced. “Or what about Dean Thomas? You really aren’t picky what house they’re from, are you?”

”Dean Thomas, eh?” Seamus sent a dirty look to the boy sitting next to him.

”Calm down, it was before you got your head out of your arse and asked me out.”

On the other side of the room, Zabini was opening and closing his mouth, his eyes bugged out as Draco continued listing off names. Zabini quite resembled a fish.

Draco sat calmly, attempting to keep a smug and childish grin off of his face. “The list goes on and on, Darling. If what you do with others in broom closets are none of my concern, then I’m going to politely ask you to drop the subject of me and Potter talking.”

The dining hall was silent. Zabini struggled to find a response, but couldn’t. He took a deep breath and soothed his expression, returning to the gorgeous boy he was known to be. He snaked an arm around Draco and planted a kiss on the other boy’s cheek.

Draco set a couple of death glares around, and everyone turned back to their food. Harry, however, waited an extra few beats, and when Draco’s eyes found him, they shined bright with curiosity.

 

————

 

News of the most frightening couple at Hogwarts splitting spread like wildfire the next week. The blond had, most likely irritated by Zabini’s argument, done it very publicly. In fact, it was in the middle of the Great Hall as students were moving from their last period classes to dinner. It caused quite the traffic jam.

”Blaise, we’re not doing this anymore.”

Harry had been attempting to push through a large group of Slytherins when the words fell on his ears, as it did on so many others’. His heart pounded and he grabbed Hermione’s arm, turning quickly to get a front-row view of the couple. They was a large circle of space around them that Draco ignored, but Zabini seemed painfully aware of.

”Draco, come on, not here. Not now.” Parkinson tugged on Draco’s sleeve, eyeing the growing crowd.

”Oh no, he’s dramatic and seems to need attention so I’m doing it here and now. Zabini, your explosive behavior is completely unprofessional and quite degrading of my public appearance. We are no longer an item.”

”Draco,” Pansy Parkinson paled.

”Wha- what?! What about the month you spent cracking?! What about when I dealt with your explosive arse?! I got you back to saneness!”

”Zabini,” Draco sighed, rubbing his forehead. “You were the one that _drove_ me to the brink of madness. You didn’t help whatsoever.”

”Was that why you and Potter kept meeting?” Zabini was suddenly sneering as he caught sight of Harry. “Was he ‘helping’ you? Making sure you were okay because you had to put up with me?”

”Yes.”

It took Harry a moment to realize he was the one who uttered the syllable. And even longer to realize he’d stepped into the clearing of students. Zabini looked horrified as he stared at Harry, but Draco’s eyes danced with interest again, pondering what the hell he was doing.

”Potter became somewhat of a confidante. He made me realize that the only thing you did was drag me down,” Draco simply put as he turned back to Zabini.

”You! So it was your fault!” The Slytherin quickly turned on Harry, who instinctually took a step back. “Merlin, I’m going to-“

”Blaise Zabini.” All amusement left Draco’s voice. “You better shut it before you get expelled. Or before I hex you personally.”

The conversation was over and Zabini realized that, so he turned and walked towards the Slytherin common room. Nobody was sure whether or not they could move, until Draco laughed quietly to himself and lead Crabbe and Goyle into the dining hall, Parkinson racing after them.

 

Ginny teased Harry about the split after news of it got out. “I feel bad for you, and you weren’t even the one getting broken up with!”

Ron and Hermione kept especially close to Harry, weary whenever Zabini was near him, as the Slytherin often sent Harry dirty looks. Despite the massive workload the three had the last week before the winter vacation, Harry was in a particularly good mood. And besides Hermione, nobody could really figure out why.

”Honestly, Harry. You’re not subtle. I heard Millicent Bullstrode talking about the fact that you seemed happy.”

”I have no idea _what_ you’re referring to, Hermione,” Harry said, humming to himself as he organised his parchment and inks.

Hermione scoffed as she stood up from Harry’s bed. “I’m going to send an owl. Sirius should know about this.”

”Hmm? Oh, okay. Bye Hermione!”

 

————

 

The last week of classes slipped by in a frenzy of stress and excitement, and before the trio realized it, Harry, Ron and Hermione were on the Hogwarts Express heading home. Harry was to go to Grimmauld Place after Lupin picked him and Draco up, while Ron went back to The Burrow with Ginny. Hermione very strongly protested going to The Burrow and instead would be spending Christmas quietly with her parents, before heading over to Grimmauld Place a few days before the end of the holidays. While Harry was excited to spend a few weeks with his uncles, he was less than excited to have two weeks with Draco before Hermione or Ron came to visit.

Once Draco sent an owl to his mother, most Slytherins dropped him quickly, but he refused to spend time instead with Harry or his friends. He mostly buried himself deep in the library until the end of term. Nobody ever said a bad word about Draco to his face, luckily, his legacy outliving him. He was still Snape’s obvious favorite, as the Potions professor seemed to despise Theodore Nott, the Slytherin that had taken Draco’s place.

Harry noticed, for a boy feared by most, exiled by almost all of his friends, and cut off from his mother and family, Draco was receiving a substantial amount of letters. He never got the chance to ask the blond about it, and decided it could wait until the winter holidays. Draco spent the train home in a compartment with Millicent Bulstrode and Susan Bones, a Hufflepuff their age that was friend with Millicent. Much to Harry’s shock, the Slytherins were also joined by Neville Longbottom, as the Gryffindor had begun dating Susan.

Harry thought about the beginning of his sixth year, staring out the window and trying to figure out what he would report back to Sirius. He didn’t feel much necessity to say anything to the others in his compartment, as Ron was connected at the lips to Lavendar Brown, and Luna was entertaining Ginny with a story about her father’s gardens. Hermione was in a separate compartment with Parvati and Padma Patil, as well as one of Padma’s friends, Marietta Edgecombe.

Mind more focused on the excitement of seeing Sirius and Remus, Harry decided to give up on his report of Draco. Sirius could just ask the Slytherin if he wanted, seeing as he’d be staying at Grimmauld Place over the break. 

 

The train pulled into the station and a scatter for bags and loose pets ensued. Harry and Ron left the train, almost immediately finding Ron’s family of redheads. Harry hugged Mrs. Weasley, but missed her frown as he peered over the tops of people’s heads for the tall werewolf.

Mrs. Weasley hadn’t been too keen on Remus Lupin and Sirius Black becoming Harry’s guardians. She pretended it was because they didn’t feed him enough, (to which Harry always responded “No, Remus is always feeding me chocolate!”) but Harry knew it was still her distrust in the pureblood and werewolf. She still wasn’t sure if they were safe or responsible enough to raise him.

Trying to remain his composure, but failing quite miserably, Harry crossed the platform quickly with a large grin on his face as he spotted Remus. The other man reciprocated the expression and pulled his best friend’s son into a tight hug. His shirt tugged down slightly and Harry thought he saw a strange symbol or two on his uncle’s shoulder, but the two separated before Harry could ask about it.

Remus groaned a little as he straightened up, the full moon had been two days ago, and his muscles were taking longer and longer to heal. Plus, Harry’s height was substantially shorter than Remus’.

(“I just don’t understand why the boy is still so short! By the time James was sixteen, he’d already had his growth spurt and was taller than me! He was nearly Remus’ height. Harry’s shoulders are just as broad, he’s just as strong as James. And Lily wasn’t particularly tiny, either.”

”Merlin’s beard! The boy hadn’t been fed properly for ten years! Bless Dumbledore for finally feeding him, Lily’s sister was only giving him scraps. Honestly, Sirius, do you ever think?” 

“.. Sorry, Molly.”

The conversation had ended quickly once Harry had walked into the dining room after listening in, and he was quickly sung _Happy Birthday_ loudly and off-key by the adults in the room.) 

“How’ve you been, Harry?”

”Good, Remus, really good. Dumbledore’s lessons are really interesting and he’s giving me information about the Ord—“

”Not in public. Once we get back to Headquarters you can tell me more. Now, where’s Draco?”

The two watched carefully for Draco, Remus pointedly ignoring Mrs. Weasley, and began to get worried when they couldn’t find the boy on the crowded platform.

However, their worries were eased when Harry was tapped on the shoulder by the thin blond. “My apologies, Professor Lupin, Mrs. Bulstrode had a right fit about my ‘lack of healthy eating’. Where are we off to?”

“Please, call me Remus.” The werewolf looked somewhat relieved, and guided the boys out of the station. “Mr. Weasley—do not make that face, Draco—prepared a Ministry car for us to take to Headquarters.”

”What Headquarters?” Draco inquired, but Remus shook his head.

”In due time.”

 

Harry didn’t recognize the street they were on when the driver pulled over. Remus thanked the Ministry official and Harry and Draco followed him down an alleyway. At the end of it, they stepped out onto a different street. Nobody said a word as the trio walked for over half an hour, in and out of alleys, retracing their steps occasionally, and navigating through the maze of buildings. Eventually, they came across a dark and rundown street Harry recognized.

Remus pulled out a small piece of parchment from his pocket and passed it to Draco. The boy’s eyes flitted over the note and then looked up at Remus, confused. The Order member shook his head and waved his wand, the small message burning in Draco’s hand to ash. Then, the three of them crossed the cracked street and slowly but surely, a thin door appeared, inside of which laid the Black family manor.

”Welcome home,” Remus said, somewhat sarcastically as he pushed open the door. 

As Harry stepped over the threshold, behind Draco but in front of Remus, he recognized his godfather immediately. The man was pulling on a black trenchcoat over a white shirt that was unbuttoned and draped over his belt to the tight black jeans he was wearing, matching his leather boots. There seemed to be a few additions to the tattoos on Sirius. Within a few seconds, the wizard’s expression went from bewildered to defensive to ecsatic.

”Sirius,” Harry breathed.

Every time he saw his godfather, it was like the first time he saw Sirius as his father’s best friend and not his father’s murderer. Relief, and a sense of home, would spread through his entire body.

Harry had dropped his bags and crossed the five paces to Sirius’ open arms in the blink of an eye. “How was your term, Prongslet?”

A throat was cleared and Sirius released Harry. “You know our schedule, Sirius, we’re already a half-hour behind because of Mad-Eye’s shitty  _protocol_ ,” Remus flatly stated, his eyes dark. Sirius bit his lip in consideration but nodded. Draco looked a little surprise to hear Remus swear.

“Never mind. Tell me later, when Remus and I get back.”

”Where are you going?” Draco asked, beating Harry to the question. Sirius’ eyes drifted over to the slender boy.

”A mission. Harry will explain,” he added at Draco’s confused expression. He flicked his wand and a scarf hanging on the coat tree that replaced the horrendous umbrella stand wrapped itself around Remus. “We’ll be gone for a little less than a week, maybe a little more, but we _should—_ hopefully—be back before Christmas. If not, your gifts are under our bed,” Sirius said with a wink.

He turned and grabbed Remus’ hand, giving him a quick kiss.

“Alright. You boys will be alone for a little bit, but we shouldn’t be too long, as Sirius said. Try not to get into too much trouble. We aren’t exactly the best role models, though, are we?”

Sirius grinned at his partner. “No we are not. Harry, my boy, please make sure to explain our rules to Draco. Ol’ Wally’s portrait still refuses to come down, and unfortunately Kreacher is still moping around. And Draco has Dumbledore’s blessing to hear anything and everything about the Order.”

”Wait, Sirius, why are you two—“

”If anybody asks why you two are alone, just respond with ‘Dumbledore said’. Got it?”

”Yeah, Sirius, I guess. But what about—“

”Sirius, button your shirt, _please_ ,” Remus said as Sirius smacked his boyfriend’s hand away from his toned chest.

”But then it’s too hot.”

”It’s too hot with it _un_ buttoned. Come on, we’re going on a mission—“

”Moony do I have to-“

”Pads! For fuck’s sake, button it!”

”I won’t-“

Remus groaned as they were wasting time bickering. He flicked his wand, Sirius’ shirt closing quickly. He barely had the chance to call out “Have fun you two!” before the two men disapparated from in front of the boys with a _Pop!_

Sirius and Remus has left Harry and Draco completely and utterly alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you liked it :D


	7. Diagon Alley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drarry is starting to appear? Maybe? If you look really close?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK! LIKE, FOUR MONTHS TOO LATE! But I have SO MUCH written that y'all will be happy. :)

Nobody moved for about two minutes. It felt like three hours, but eventually, Draco looked down, trying to calm his breathing, and toed at the ratty rug beneath him. Harry sharply inhaled as he realized what just happened.

”Come on,” he muttered, beckoning Draco to follow him. He lead the other boy straight down the hallway, entering the kitchen and dining room. Kreacher was quite happy to meet Draco, although not terribly excited that Harry kept a firm hand on Draco’s shoulder the entire tour. The kitchen, and Kreacher's living quarters, were in the basement. Harry preferred to make and eat food down there, instead of the abysmally decorated dining room on the first floor. Additional to the dining room was a sitting room, a bathroom, a ballroom, and a small coat closet.

They two went upstairs and Harry quickly explained the history of Mrs. Black’s portrait, and explained the sleeping plan in Grimmauld Place. The second floor had limited bedrooms as the drawing room and other parlors took up space. Harry and Ron slept on this floor, as did Ginny and Hermione. Above that floor was all of the guest bedrooms. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley slept up there, as did Fred and George, and any other temporary guests like the eldest Weasley brothers or other Order members. On the fourth floor was where Regulus and Sirius had stayed. Remus had accompanied Sirius in staying in the man's childhood bedroom. The fifth floor was the attic, where Buckbeak was held, but beside the door Regulus had claimed as his own on the fourth level was also Orion and Walburga Black's bedroom.

Draco took a few steps into the room before turning back and saw that Harry was leaning against the door frame studying him, but not crossing into the room. The dark grey walls decorated with family portraits and display boxes of shiny silver heirlooms made it feel elegant and much too spacious, but the sharp chandelier that didn’t seem to be able to produce light made the room feel dark and cold. On the mantel above the brick fireplace were stone busts and more pictures of ancient Black family members. The hardwood floor was made of massive wooden planks, and they were partially covered by a dark forest green rug. It reminded Draco painstakingly of the Malfoy Manor; no matter how much renovation had been done on the rest of the house to make it a home, Sirius had refused to step foot into this bedroom.

”Oh. I’ll be getting the room to myself, then, yeah?”

Harry nodded. “Ron’ll be sharing with me when he gets here. You’ll be alone, we made sure to give you space. Is there, er, a problem with that?” Draco had received the largest bedroom in Grimmauld Place but nobody, not even the Slytherin, wanted to sleep in it. Ron was happy to cram into Harry’s significantly smaller room.

”Well it’s just that—what with Lupin and Black gone—there’s nobody in the house but us."

”Right. And the less people in this dreadful place, the less people I have to see. Now unless you’re hungry, I’m going to say goodnight.” Harry was quite brash and Draco looked taken aback, although he still didn’t particularly have the authority to call Harry out on his rudeness. Sirius

”Oh, er, goodnight I suppose.”

Harry nodded firmly before pushing himself off the door frame and turning quickly to walk down the stairs to his room. There, he saw his truck had been spelled by Remus to arrive just as Malfoy's had in his room, and ended up kicking it across the room in frustration.

”Fucking _hell_ Sirius! Barely a _word_ — four months! Four months I’ve been gone and I barely saw him once— no owls! No letters or floo visits, not even a fucking _howler_! Not even a fucking. Goddamn. Padfoot. Sighting. One meeting in Hogsmeade—one!—to talk about _Draco fucking Malfoy_ , and that’s it. I get back and what does the man do?! Leave me alone in this _wretched_ house for Merlin- _knows_ how long! All because of some mission?! This is absolute. Fucking. Bullshit.” James Potter’s son through-and-through, Harry punctuated the last three words by kicking at his bedpost and stomping on his rucksack.

"Never trust Sirius Black for anything, especially if it relates to being a competent family member. The boy was a positively terrible son for poor Walburga."

Harry jumped up at the sound, searching for the voice, but found the person in the portrait painting speaking to him. Harry pointedly ignored the figure, but he couldn’t ignore his bedroom door that had been pushed open just a crack. “Po- Harry?”

"Malfoy? What, what’s wrong?”

"Nothing I just- I thought I heard yelling and I was worried about Walburga’s portrait.”

Harry distractedly ran a hand through his hair. Draco noted how it looked as though the wind had blown through it when Harry played Quidditch. “No I just— It’s been a long couple of months,” Harry admitted weakly, sinking down onto his bed. He had no idea why he was telling Malfoy of all people, but the blond, looking suprisingly small, took a step forward.

"I’ve been feeling the same.”

Harry was going to open his mouth but decided he really didn’t want to have this conversation right now. “Was there something you needed?”

"Er, well, I don’t have a particularly large appetite at this moment, but perhaps we could both use a cup of tea?”

Another hand ran through the tangle of black mess on top of Harry’s head before he nodded slightly and padded out of the room, softly closing the door behind himself and Malfoy. “Oh! Shit, I’m sorry, you’re still in your school robes,” Harry pointed out, having changed into jeans and a t-shirt on the train ride home.

"Wanted to make a good impression on your godfather. Suppose he only saw me for two seconds anyways so it wasn’t quite worth it.”

"Well, er, do you want to change?”

"I think I should.”

His tone always seemed as though he was above Harry, but the Gryffindor appreciated that at least Malfoy was choosing his words carefully and treading lightly. He hadn’t started any fights so far, even with Harry’s temper so delicate this year. 

Harry followed Draco back to his room and watched, again not putting a toe into the room, as Draco dug around in his trunk. He sighed, somewhat exasperated. “I only have suits and my school robes. My pyjamas are either at school or at home.”

Harry had to hold back a laugh.

"Merlin, leave it to Draco fucking Malfoy to pack  _suits_ as his leisure wear. You don’t even have a pair of jeans?”

Draco grimaced. “My father didn’t exactly.. _appreciate_ it, when I wore jeans in the house. Them being muggle clothing and all. I stopped wearing them entirely after a particularly nasty encounter with his wand.”

"Fuck, Draco, when was this?” Harry breathed, suddenly concerned.

"Easter break of my second year,” the boy shrugged.

Harry’s arms were crossed, but he had taken a step into the room. “You can’t wear those all break, though,” he uncrossed his arms long enough to gesture to Draco’s school robes.

The pale boy blushed and took them off, standing in grey slacks, a white button down, his Slytherin tie and dress shoes to match. He nervously loosened the tie as Harry studied him again.

The Chosen One sighed.

”Alright, fine. Let's get you changed.” Draco quirked an eyebrow up at Harry as he took a few steps closer. "Will you take that off?"

Draco shrugged and his practiced hands quickly took off the green tie. Draco jokingly threw it around Harry and he chewed his lip as he looked up and down the pureblood’s outfit. Before Draco could stop him, Harry had taken out his wand and cast a spell. But to his surprise, Malfoy didn’t feel any pain or get pushed backwards. Instead, he realized as he looked down, he was wearing grey sweatpants.

"’Mione taught me a few clothing transfiguration spells in preparation for the Third Task two years ago. She said it was for if I needed to make a tourniquet, but Ron figured it’d make it faster to fall asleep after classes.” Harry shrugged at Draco’s bewildered face. “That girl is full of secrets. Now come on, take off your shoes and shirt and throw on one of those Slytherin T’s you like so much. I know you have them. Parkinson bought them for you during the last Hogsmeade trip.”

”You want me to undress in front of you?” Malfoy sneered.

”Ah there’s the familiar look,” Harry commented stiffly as he reclined on the bed behind Draco and his luggage. “It’s a shirt, Malfoy, I know what’s under it. Now hurry up. I want my tea.”

Malfoy rolled his eyes and began unbuttoning the white shirt. When he got to the bottom, he pulled it off, and tugged the undershirt up over his head. He didn’t like the fact that he was under Harry’s scrutinization, but knew bringing attention to the fact would just make it worse, so Draco said nothing as his heart beat faster.

The vertical scar on his left forearm was quite visible and the blond bent over his trunk partially to be efficient and partially to hide the scars along his chest and stomach where Lucius, and the Dark Lord, had often left marks of their punishments. But it still didn't hide the ones left on his back. His shoulders flexed as he dug through his trunk. “I can’t find the shirt in all of this shit. I don’t even know if I packed it. I couldn’t stay at school over the break, what with all those Slytherins glaring at me constantly, so I was prepared for you to leave me to die at the platform once we got off the train. At least with the Dark Lord I’d have my own clothing at home.”

Harry tried not to wince at the fact that Malfoy had such little faith in Harry that he hadn’t even bothered to pack extra clothing. “Well what _did_ you pack, then?”

”Robes, a few of my suits, my school supplies. When I go home, Mother and I usually replace anything that ran out. Plus, all of my books so that I can study over the break.”

”You and Hermione will have something to talk about, then. Come on, I’ll lend you one of my shirts until we can buy you some.”

 

By ‘one of my shirts,’ Dravo wasn’t prepared for the loudest, most obnoxious, brightest Gryffindor shirt that Harry owned. At least it was soft. “I feel like a Gryffindor now. It even _smells_ like you,” Draco groveled as the two headed into the kitchen for some tea. Harry laughed and offered to out the kettle on.

”Doesn’t this place have a house elf for that?”

The clammoring in the kitchen paused and Malfoy cursed himself for saying anything. When Harry spoke, his tone was relaxed. “Kreacher’s a nasty bastard, though. He’d probably poison it, honestly.” Draco breathed a sigh of relief.

When the tea was brewed, Harry came over with two mugs and sat next to Draco. Neither one commented on how weird it was that they’d been able to hold decent conversations all night and that they were actually sitting next to each other.

After a few minutes of silence while both of the students pondered this bizarre situation, Harry spoke. “Right, well, I’m going to bed. See you.”

Draco watched as the only other person in the house rose awkwardly from the table and swayed down the long hallway before clambering up the stairs. When he heard a door softly shut, Deaco released the breath he was holding and rested his forehead on his crossed arms on the table in front of him. Silent sobs slowly began to wrack his body as he wondered, _What the fuck am I doing here?!_

 

————

 

A few restless days broken by sleepless nights later, and the boys hadn’t seen or heard from Moony or Padfoot since the two departed. A handful of Order members had stopped by here or there, but Harry always avoided them, and Draco had hidden himself away so as not to have to speak with anybody and explain why the child of a Death Eater was living in the headquarters of the anti-Death Eater organization.

He had taken to spending the long days in the Black family library. It was mostly books on Dark Arts, but occasionally he’d stumble across some wizarding history books or collections of art. Draco had experienced it in his own home as well: traditional pureblood families often celebrated their _own_ histories and traditions, not _just_ desecrate the muggle population’s.

Draco enveloped himself in classic poetry and art of the wizarding renaissance while Harry... moped. The boy would spend hours caring for the Hippogriff living in the attic, or he’d become recluse in his own bedroom, closing the door and not even coming out for meals sometimes. The two hardly saw each other, and when they did, no smiles were interchanged, but neither were glares. More, firm nods were chosen to be sent across the hallway and after they’d head their separate ways.

Five days after his godfathers left, (“Honestly, Potter, it’s been _five_ days. Do you have any idea when they’ll be back? I don’t know how much more of you I can stand,” Draco had said with a teasing tone. It had somehow begun to sound like friendly teasing, though,) Tonks showed up. Harry knew it was her because she immediately tripped into the house, slammed the door shut with her foot, and triggered the screaming of Mrs. Black.

” _MUDBLOODS! HALF-BREEDS! FILTHY BLOOD TRAITORS! IN THE HOUSE OF MY—_ “

”YEAH YEAH, SHUT _UP_ YOU FUCKIN’ WHINING BITCH! OI! SIRIUS! Will you _please_ shut her up?!”

Harry had slipped out of his bedroom and quickly cast a spell to close Walburga’s portrait’s curtains. She was silenced. Then, despite his recent habits, Harry went to greet Tonks. “Oh! Hiya, Harry. How’re you doin’?”

Harry shrugged at his godfather’s first cousin once removed. “I’m okay. Sirius isn’t here, by the way.”

”Oh, Remus gone too?”

Harry nodded. “You’re welcome to stay the night, but they left five days ago and weren’t exactly clear on the return date.”

”FIVE DAYS AGO?!” Walburga started to scream again. “Shit! Sorry, Harry, I-“

” _Silencio_!” The charm Draco cast worked just long enough for him to dart forward and close the curtains. Looking uncomfortable as Tonks stared, open-mouthed at him, Draco came down the stairs.

”Draco Malfoy, meet Nymphadora Tonks. Tonks, this is—“

”One of my cousins,” Tonks said, her voice as distant as her relationship with the Slytherin. She studied him (Draco was quite fed up with the stares and began to understand how Harry felt,) before snapping out of it and offering Draco her hand. “Nice to meet you Draco. Now, let’s all join in the sitting room, shall we? I have a few questions I’d like to ask away from Sirius’s mother.”

Harry sheepishly smiled at her giggle and she swept the two of them into a room off of the main corridor and shut the door before haphazardly plopping herself into a dusty chair.

”Malfoy, Tonks is part of the Order. She’s amazing, really. Saved my life a handful of times before.”

Tonks beemed at that. “Harry, Harry, you can’t get me off track that easily.” He usually could. “What is this I hear about being left alone for five fucking days?!”

”It’s really not that big of a deal,“ Harry began.

”Black and Lupin-“

”Sirius and Remus just left for a mission-“

”They said not much longer than a week-“

”If that-“

”Although it could be until after Christmas?”

Harry glared at Draco for releasing that bit of information as Tonks slapped a hand to her forehead. “‘Til _Christmas_?! I- that’s another five days away! Merlin, I had really important shit I needed to talk about with them."

"What kind of shit?"

"Never you mind, Harry."

"Is it Order business? I'm _in_ the Order, you know. I deserve to be told."

"No, not Order-"

"Then what? Is it something to do with Sirius and Remus? They're practically my uncles, you know, I should-"

"Harry, it doesn't concern you. Who- who’s been looking after you two?”

”Er, Keacher?” Harry offered. “It’s not that big of a deal, really, we’re only alone on Dumbledore’s orders,” Harry rushed out at Tonks’ horrified expression.

”DUMBLEDORE’S ORDERS?!”

”You see, he knew I’d be here over the break, and yet he still sent Sirius and Remus out on some sort of mission.” Draco failed to give Tonks any sort of reassurance and she sat there, opening and closing her mouth like a fish.

Finally she managed to squeak out “Guess I’m staying the night,” before sighing. The Order had been told why Draco was there or at least, what Dumbledore said was the reason why Draco was there, so Tonks decided not to press that issue. Instead, she took the boys outside of the dusty house.

”Are you sure this is safe?” Draco asked beneath his scarf, scanning the road he hadn’t seen in five days for Death Eaters.

”Harry’s kicked You-Know-Who’s arse five times before and I’m a trained auror. Not to mention the Dark Arts training I’m sure you’ve had. We’re _fine_ , Draco,” Tonks insisted. “Quickly now, there’s a muggle store down a ways.”

Malfoy wrinkled his nose but Harry pretended not to notice. He hadn’t been outside in too long and forgot that even though Grimmauld Place was freezing, outside was substantially colder. “Merlin, I should’ve brought my gloves,” Harry muttered to himself as the stepped onto a new sidewalk.

”You can have mine,” Draco offered, already slipping them off his hands. Harry paused.

”But then your hands will be cold.”

”Just shut up and hold each other’s hands, if you’re so worried about it,” Tonks murmured to herself. She clearly thought that they hadn’t heard her, but Draco’s neck turned pink underneath his green scarf and grey wool jacket.

 

————

 

Tonks had, indeed, slept over that night. However, after breakfast (and Sirius and Remus’ lack of appearance that morning,) she had told the boys that, although she was incredibly sorry about it, she had to get going. She hurried out the door at around eleven, stopping only to give Harry a quick kiss on the cheek and the job of reminding his godfathers to send her an owl.

He assured her he would, and softly closed the front door behind her.

”She’s quite something,” Draco said, carrying a book on the history of Azkaban as he approaches Harry. The book was open to a large, formidable picture of the wizarding prison and Harry swallowed hard.

”I’m sure Sirius will be happy to know you’re doing research,” Harry snapped.

Draco had a curious expression on his face. “I simply have no idea-“

”The book, Malfoy, the book.”

The Slytherin’s mouth was still open from being interrupted as he glanced down. He quickly snapped the book shut at the sight of the moving photo. “My apologies, Potter. I should’ve realized it was a sensitive subject. I guess I’m just reading whatever I can as there’s nothing to do in this damned house.”

Draco glared at Harry challengingly. “Alright then,” Harry spoke up, “let’s go out. For lunch. We can floo to the Leaky Cauldron, get some food and some of your supplies, and then go to Gringotts to exchange dome galleons for muggle money. That way we can go into the city for a day if Sirius and Remus aren’t back in a few days.”

”But- We- Potter, you’re the Chosen One and I’m a Death Eater’s son! We can’t go out in public!”

”Why not? We’re both also highly skilled wizards, Malfoy.”

”We’re children in the eyes of the law.”

”I’m part of the Order and they’ve still yet to give me any sort of mission. If they think I can handle fighting Voldemort, I’m sure I can stop by Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.”

Malfoy searched for excuses, but when Harry’s persistence poked holes in all of them, he gave in and grabbed his coat and scarf. “Should I bring an extra pair of gloves?” Malfoy mocked as he and Harry walked into the sitting room to use the floo network.

”Nah, I'll just hold your hand,” Harry teased. Malfoy scoffed at him and took a pinch of the floo powder. Within seconds, his thin pale face disappeared in green flames and Harry took a step forward into the grate, anxiously preparing for his turn.

 

”Honestly, Potter, I’ve seen three-year-olds more competent at floo powder than you.”

Harry had tumbled out onto the floor at the Leaky Cauldron. He wasn’t particularly graceful at flooing and preferred not to do it whenever he could. The seeker grunted in response to Malfoy as he brushed soot off of his robe. The pureblood handed him his glasses and, after smushing them back onto his face, the two were off. 

They drew their hoods so as not to be too obvious, and before they left the pub, Draco did a quick transfiguration spell to make Harry’s hair long and his eyes blue. With another tap of the hawthorn wand, Harry’s scar had a temporary disillusionment charm placed on it. Then, pointing the wand at himself and muttering a little bit, Draco’s hair turned light brown and his eyes became the same color as his nose flattened out a bit.

The two stepped onto the street, the bitter wind quickly biting their faces and hands, any exposed skin quickly turned pink. Harry dug his hands deep into the pockets of his robes.

“Here,” Draco muttered, slipping a small stretchy elastic into his hand. “For your hair. I grabbed it off of the couch in the sitting room. It’s your godfather’s.”

Harry attempted to put his hair up as gracefully as he’d seen Sirius do it a thousand times before. Unfortunately, loose strands fell out all over the place and the bun, although secure enough, looked quite messy when Harry pulled his hood down as the two stepped into a coffee shop. Draco’s fingers twitched towards his wand to fix the messy strands. “Listen, even enchanted my hair will never _ever_  be orderly.”

Draco's lips slipped into a smile. “It suits you, Harry.”

The students ordered their beverages, Harry a black coffee and Draco another cup of tea. They sat, talking in the crowded shop, and warmed up from the cold wind blowing outside. Harry asked Draco about all the letters he’d received before the end of the term, and Malfoy confessed they were all from Black. He insisted it was to make plans, and mostly out of pity though, when he saw Harry grit his teeth in annoyance. His uncles had both been too busy for him, too busy with Malfoy, to send letters.

”I’m sure it wasn’t like that. I’m such a hassle on them, really, they probably were just making sure I wasn’t going to fuck up again.”

”Mm, that’s probably right. Anyways, fancy heading to the joke shop?” Harry asked to create a distraction, and thankfully, Draco took it. He had nodded carefully, throwing a few coins on the table to pay for their drinks and scones, when Harry lead him out of the store.

Suddenly, time seemed to move in slow motion.

The door had barely swung shut behind Draco as his eyes swept across the street and straight into his mother’s. Her back was tall and her eyes piercing, the long blonde hair on her head sprinkled with snow. No amount of disguises could’ve hidden Draco from his mother. She knew it was him, and by the raise of her eyebrow, she knew who he was with. Harry’s hand, which had grabbed Draco's to lead him into the joke shop, no longer felt slightly warmer than freezing, it felt burning hot as it fell under her scrutinization.

He wanted to curse her for getting him into this mess. He wanted to run over there and hug her because he missed her. He wanted to scream that he loved his mother. He wanted to pretend she didn’t exist. But before he could make a decision, Draco Malfoy was pulled into the bustling shop two steps away and his mother disappeared from view

”—Alfoy, Malfoy, Draco? Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

”What the bloody hell does that mean, Potter?”

”N-Never mind. Are you okay?”

”I’m fine. I just.. nothing.”

Harry nodded and resolved to find Fred and George instead. Draco was dragged along, as neither remembered to drop the other's hand.

 

"Lee Jordan’s your best friend!”

"Kid, any old fan of Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes could’ve guess that.”

"Uh, in my first year at Hogwarts, when I played seeker for the Gryffindor team, you guys would make dirty jokes about our captain’s name every early practice.”

"And what would those jokes be?” Fred taunted Harry. He and George were attempting to figure out if this scarless, long-haired and blue-eyed boy really was Harry Potter.

"You said ‘morning, Wood’ every practice. Without fail. Every single time." Draco scoffed at the joke.

"Ah, we knew it was you, Harry.”

"Just wanted to pull your leg a little.”

"Now, what can we do for you?”

"For one thing,” Harry began, “don’t tell your mother.”

"Our lips are sealed,” promised George.

Harry Potter grinned brightly at his best friend’s brothers, and Draco Malfoy slipped out from under his grasp. “Bathroom,” he muttered vaguely and hurried off. He was barely three steps from the door when a familiar set of hands grabbed his shoulders and steered him behind a curtain into a small storage room. Malfoy shot a hopeless look out the frost covered front door, onto the cold street where a woman stood, knowing her son would never come back.

 

”Zabini, what do you want?!”

”I could recognize that jawline and snark anywhere, Malfoy. And judging by the dramatic stories of betrayal your poor mother is telling, that—“ Zabini jammed a thumb in the opposite direction where Harry and the Weasley brothers were standing, “was Harry Potter.”

”What do you want Zabini?”

Blaise took his hands off of Draco’s shoulders and raised them in surrender. “I just wanted to let you know that when you come back after break.. well, just know that neither my mother nor I are Death Eaters.”

”You won’t try and kill me in my sleep?”

Blaise smirked and clapped a hand to Draco’s shoulder. “No promises. Oh, and when I ran into mommy dearest.. she wanted to let you know that she loves you but knows thhat you both made the right choice.”

Luckily, Zabini was expertly adept at realizing what people needed, (although frequently used that to their disadvantage,) and slipped out of the closet.

Malfoy blinked back tears and attempted to steady his breathing. His mother, his own mother, didn’t really want him back. Of course, there was a war going on and his safety was an issue, but a little part of it stung. At least, Draco realized, he had found another family he was welcome with. The thought of Potter and his godfathers only pained Malfoy more, but he knew if he didn’t make a reappearance soon, Potter would go off on a mission. It was easy, what with the fray of the store, to rejoin the group, and Harry only quirked an eyebrow as Malfoy appeared before anyone fully registered that he had gone.

 

\--------

 

The pair had left Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes shortly afterwards, and headed to Gringotts. Since Harry was simply exchanging money from wizarding to muggle, he didn't have to get into his vault and his disguise was left intact. Once the two left the grumbling goblins, they decided to duck into some shops before leaving. There weren't too many left still open, but Harry had limited experience in Diagon Alley and Draco took him into some new places. At a jewelry store, he found gifts for almost all of the Weasley siblings. Ron's had been owl-ordered before break, and arrived earlier in the week. Hermione, well, Harry knew she'd get a book, but  _which_ one would be impossible to pick.

When they entered Flourish and Blotts, Harry made an exasperated noise when Draco asked what he was looking for. The Slytherin dragged him towards a shelf and began skimming. "There's a book in the Black family library that I thin she might like. That copy is barely readable, though, since it's so old. Ah! Here it is." 

Harry barely understood the title and decided that if it was a book, Hermione would be happy with it. He attempted to go check out, but Draco was distracted. Watching the taller boy skim a finger over the spines of books made Harry wonder what it would feel like if he did the same to his jaw. He shook his head. "Are you about ready to leave?"

"Do I look about ready to leave?" Draco asked, slightly irritated, slightly amused. Harry huffed and plopped himself down on the floor, playing with a loose thread in his robes. "We  _are_ in a book store, Harry. You could, oh, I don't know,  _read a book._ "

"I don't like reading," Harry mumbled. "I'd much rather have a teacher teach me the contents of a book, or hear a story told by Sirius instead of some old writer."

"Not one for fiction, even?"

"Draco, I was raised as a muggle. The most fantastic and magical things in books became my world. There isn't any fake world to escape to. Imagine if you could pretend a world where fire-breathing dragons could be bested by a powerful sorcerer existed, how you could run away into that mythical place to escape the tiring mundane life you lead. Now imagine you learn that world is not only real, but  _you_ are a sorcerer that has to best a fire-breathing dragon so as not to be killed in front of your entire magic school that teaches you how to cast spells. What world is there to run away to when the world you used to run to is the one you know want to run away from?"

"... That was.. surprisingly deep for you, Harry."

The Gryffindor laughed dryly from the floor. "Just speaking the truth, Draco."

"Still, your ignoring a large percentage of books. What about the things they don't teach you at Hogwarts? What about the muggle classics like Shakespeare or Dickens, that are all about the language used and not the boring plot? What about the snarky books with a narrator that makes things up on the spot as he goes?"

Harry shrugged. "I guess with fighting Voldemort my entire life, I've never had much time to read."

Draco flinched at the name Harry said, and went back to skimming the shelves. "I guess your life is one people write the stories about, right, famous Potter?"

For the first time in the long week they'd spent almost entirely alone, Draco's voice was as venomous and rude as it had been during their early years at school. He scratched at his left forearm involuntarily as he said the words. "Sorry," Harry said, opting out of mentioning Draco's tone. "I get the appeal of them, I understand why you'd  _want_ to read them they just.. never really worked for me."

Draco stayed silent after that. He found another four books he'd wanted for himself, and brought them up to the checkout counter along with Hermione's book and Harry. A quick glance at the covers before the witch behind the counter monotonously asked if he wanted a bag for that told Harry that Draco was becoming interested with art. Two of the books were about comparing wizard-painted artwork throughout different time period with muggles', one was an extensive catalog and history of all of the artwork in Hogwarts, and one, to Harry's surprise, was a book about the current street art in muggle London.

"The library at Grimmauld Place is surprisingly lacking once you get past all of the pureblood ideologies and lineage texts, and the Dark Arts books. I've read all of the readable books left, and they're either boring, elitist, or in dreadful condition. I figured I'd pick up a few with some interesting opinions."

"Hang on, you've read all of the books left in Grimmauld Place?"

"I mean, there were only... ten or fifteen that fit the category."

" _You read ten or fifteen books in a week_?!"

"Well, yeah. What else was I supposed to do?"

"Bloody hell, you read more than 'Mione!"

"No, I've just been trapped, inside, with nothing to do, and I haven't been able to sleep in that freezing fucking room since I arrived. What else would I be doing? What have  _you_ been doing?"

Harry blushed. He wasn't sure what he'd been doing. "Mostly.. falling in and out of nightmares, caring for Buckbeak, writing letters to my friends. I've been listening in on the Order meetings too, and I've been digging up any photos of the old Order that anybody might have."

"I wonder if my dad and your dad ever had to fight each other."

Harry scoffed. "I'm sure they did. Probably called each other Potter and Malfoy like we do now. I mean, your dad was-still  _is_ -a Death Eater. Mine was a member of the Order, probably still would be if he were alive today. They were just like us."

"I'm nothing like my father."

Draco's response was quick and immediate, it shocked Harry. The two walked on in silence in the freezing weather. "I didn't mean it like that," Harry said slowly as the approached the way to get back to the Leak Cauldron.

"I wish you hadn't said it at all," Draco huffed. He tapped the correct brick with his wand and they walked back towards the Leaky Cauldron.

"Hey," Harry said, pausing and grabbing Draco's arm. "You aren't anything like him, okay? I meant- I meant that our parents probably squabbled just like we did, probably fought on opposite sides just as we would have, if.. if you hadn't came and talked to me this year." Harry noticed the boy was shaking and, to the surprise of both of them, pulled him into a tight hug. "You don't have to be like him, in fact many people like you when you aren't like him. Hell, I  _really_ like you when you aren't like him."

Draco sniffled a little. "You what?" Harry held the taller boy away from him, watching his expression as he continued.

"Sorry, I.. didn't mean it like that. I just.. I'm happy that you're staying with us this break, okay? I'm glad that you're safe. You  _deserve_ to be safe."

"Can I call you Harry?" The question slipped out. "I know I've said it a few times but.. erm, could I only call you Harry? I feel like-"

"We're friends now, Draco. You can call me Harry."

"Thanks. I- I'd like it if you called me Draco. I  _like_ it when you call me Draco."

"Good." Harry was beaming as he held Draco's biceps.

"Would it be too much to ask if Grang- if Hermione and R-Ron called me it too?" Draco was resembling his eleven-year-old self as he asked for forgiveness and friendship.

"That's up to them," Harry paused, "but I don't see why not after they get to know the real you over the winter hols."

Harry let go of Draco's arms, instead slipping a hand down to his hand and giving him a reassuring squeeze. He brought the pad of his thumb up to the bottom of his eye to brush a tear away and smiled at Harry in thanks. "Let's head back," Draco offered and Harry nodded.

They didn't let go of each other's hand as they stepped into the fireplace and apparated back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and kudos if you liked it!!


	8. No Sleep on a Full Moon... Or Without Each Other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco and Harry go on a date. Er, out to see a show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TWO UPDATES IN ONE NIGHT?! What do you MEAN that you're going to continue to update tonight until either your eyelids fall off or you finish the story, Toni?! What do you MEAN you've had most of it written for months and didn't post it because it was too difficult to edit it on a broken phone?!
> 
> Anywho, yeah! Here's another chapter! (P.S: I am NOT English, nor do I live in England or have ever lived in England. I am doing my damned best here, so the vocabulary and spelling might not be perfect (I am pretty happy about getting kerb right though,) but I really enjoy challenging myself. Feeder is from Wales, and I did a lot of research for this chapter surprisingly. But if I don't do research for a fic, it means I didn't put enough effort into it. I really like learning new things and challenging myself to use new styles which is why I'm attempting to write in British English vs. my native American English.
> 
> Are you from Great Britain? Spot a terrible, cringey Americanization of a word or spelling in this fic at all? Comment and let me know my inaccuracies, I actually DO wanna know. Thanks, and enjoy!

They’re trip to Diagon Alley, although somewhat mislead and terribly dangerous, had been a success. With pockets weighed down in dung bombs and muggle money, Harry and Draco returned to Grimmauld Place.

"I just could never understand it.” Draco swore loudly as Harry tried to explain pounds to him, three days after their trip to Gringotts. “And you lived in their world with your godfather for a whole summer?!”

"And I was raised by muggles for eleven years before that. It’s really not that complex,” Harry attempted to soothe.

"I can’t believe we’ve ran out of things to do. I’m so bored that I’m letting you teach me how muggles live.”

"You know.. you could just take Muggle Studies.”

Harry anxiously held his breath, hoping for some sign of improvement, but all Draco did was shake his head and change the subject.

"Any word from Black or Lupin? Shouldn’t they be back by now?”

Harry glanced nervously at his watch. There were only two days left before the full moon, and he hadn’t received a single notice from either of the Order members. He shook his head slowly at the other boy, and they both resigned to playing Wizards Chess for a few hours before dinner and then bed. Luckily, the winter days were short, and even if Sirius and Remus weren’t back by then, Ron and the Weasley family would be there in three days.

 

————

 

The  next day was spent cleaning until Harry got fed up. He dragged Draco out of the library and the two left the house, in search of something to do. "How about that pub?" Draco offered as they hurried along down the street in muggle London. This was the part of London Harry had never been to. It was far from King's Cross Station, and most of the area around them was dirty and worrisome looks were sent their way. Worst of all, Draco was  _cold_.

"I told you, we won't be let in. We're not eighteen."

"I don't feel as though they'll care."

"If they do, we're in trouble. If they don't, we'll probably be murdered."

"Shit. I'm fucking freezing out here and I can't even create a tiny flame because of the Trace. At least inside Grimmauld Place there'e enough magic around to cover it.."

"Let's just go back."

"Grab my hand."

"Why?" Harry didn't want to be stabbed for walking into a sketchy bar but he also didn't want to be stabbed for appearing to be a young gay boy.

"I'll apparate us to central London. By the Thames?

"You know how to apparate?"

"Most pureblood families teach their kids how to by thirteen."

Instead of responding, he took Draco's hand. He was being squeezed and pushed and pulled on all sides, suffocated and pressed. Suddenly, he and Draco were standing in the city, cars and people bustling around them. Nobody seemed to notice as two boys suddenly appeared. Draco, instead of creating a jam and letting Harry stare in wonder, pulled him quickly along.

"Mother used to take me into the city when I was younger. Here, this is a wizarding bar."

"Shit, we can't go in. Not looking like us, at least."

Draco paused at Harry's comment. "Hmm. We're Untraceable here, though." He pulled Harry down the alley next to the bar, and pressed himself closely to the brick wall. "Do you have a business card or anything like that?"

Harry patted the pockets of his coat and jeans, finally releasing Draco's hand. "I don't think so?"

"Damn it."

"What about a £1 note?"

"Good enough," he sighed, quickly taking it from Harry. He duplicated it, creating an exact copy, with a tap of his wand. Then, he began to change the shape and design of it as he muttered more and more.

"Is that- Is that a fake driving license?"

"Two of them. I've only seen one once or twice, so you're going to have to fix it."

Draco handed them over and Harry looked at them. "These are.. pretty accurate. But you forgot the signature here. And the expiration date." Harry made a few other comments and changes to the cards, before being satisfied.

"Alright, I think we've stayed close enough to the magic of this building that the Trace was obstructed. We should go before anyone notices Harry Potter, though." Harry nodded and pocketed the fake I.D.

"Hang on, why isn't your name on yours Draco Malfoy?" He asked, as they approached a muggle club that seemed to interest Draco.

"Shut up, we're almost there." 

"The show tonight is eighteen and up. ID?" The bouncer asked as the two approached the door. Draco calmly handed over his and Harry attempted to follow suit, but fidgeted significantly more. The man raised an eyebrow at him.

"Sorry, my boyfriend just turned eighteen so he's a little nervous. I promise we're legal, just trying to celebrate his birthday tonight." Draco said smoothly, smiling softly at Harry, and bringing an arm around his waist. His stomach flipped at Draco's eyes and turned away, annoyed that Draco had anticipated this.

The bouncer nodded. "I remember those days. My girlfriend was pretty excited to turn eighteen just so she could see more shows. She's why I work at this venue."

"Oh yeah, they get some good acts," Draco said, hoping to hurry on before a real discussion started. Music was already playing inside and the line was nonexistent so the bouncer could've kept them talking. But to Draco's surprise, it wasn't the bouncer, but Harry who started talking.

"Feeder's great. I'm super excited they came to London on their tour. I was really happy that they released Stereo World as a single a few months ago."  _Merlin, Harry never stops talking with his hands. Father always said it was a terrible habit: it gives too much away._

"Me too, mate. I just hope I'll get to watch and not just work tonight," the bouncer laughed.

"Well, they'll be back when they release a full-length at least."

"Hope it's soon."

"Yeah. Well, we should be heading in," Harry smiled. The bouncer nodded them along and Draco looked at Harry, surprised.

"You know this band?"

"Feeder? Yeah. Sirius was still working a little bit at a muggle record store, and they brought in one or two copies of their first EP. It was two tracks, he showed it to me the summer before fifth year."

"Huh. Are they good?" Draco asked, confused by this.

"Yeah. But you're gonna hate them."

 

Harry had been right. Draco hadn't  _hated_ them, but they were a little loud for him. He did enjoy watching Harry jump and scream along to the band from the audience. Most of the people there seemed to know the words. While Harry enjoyed himself, Draco observed from the bar, where he gulped down cheap whiskey the entire night. A few people came up to flirt with him, and he went with his and Harry's cover story. He was gay-true-and he was in a relationship with that energetic man celebrating his eighteenth birthday-not true and not true.

"They were so good. Merlin, I'm so glad I got to see them, Draco," Harry gushed as he and Draco walked along the pavement at two in the morning, hand-in-hand. He had been rubbing his hands to keep warm, as he'd left the gloves he'd worn when Tonks took them out back at home. Harry'd noticed and shrugged as he took Draco's hand. ("She's usually right, okay? You're clearly cold, just-" "It's fine, Harry.") He was balancing along the edge of the kerb with his right arm extended, his left hand anchored into Draco's as the other boy walked securely on the pavement, his and Harry's hand in his pocket.

"I'm glad you had fun."

"I even got them to sign the 7-inch Sirius gave me. They said they remembered him and that record store!"

"Harry, bloody hell,  _breathe._ You're going to pass out." He was panting still from the moshing and loud environment, but he was too energetic to calm down.

"Fuck, Draco, that was way better than trying not to dream about Cedric's death, or Voldemort, or something."

Draco flinched. "Yeah, like I said, I'm glad you had a fun 'eighteenth birthday.''"

"Did you have a good time? I know they were a little loud.."

"They were, but they were good. Besides, I got my drink like I wanted."

"I'm surprised you aren't wasted, lightweight."

"Oi, sod off, Potter."

"Malfoy's a lightweight, Malfoy's a lightweight," Harry continued with a sing-song voice.

The blond huffed and grabbed Harry's arm, quickly disapparating as they were alone, and bringing them back to Grimmauld Place. Harry was considerably quieter after the apparation. Draco wasn't sure if he liked or disliked the silence.

 

\--------

 

The second day, the night of the full moon and the day before the Weasleys arrived, was hard on Harry. Draco was nursing a headache from last night's noise and alcohol, and didn't want to go out again. Harry was exhausted from lack of sleep and spent the entire day annoying Kreacher.

"How long have you been here?"

"That is the thirteenth time today the Potter boy has asked Kreacher the most irritating question and Kreacher still won't answer," the house-elf groveled to himself.

 

By the time the sun had set and the moon had risen, Harry knew he wouldn't sleep. His dreams were a mess of pain and wolf howls. He woke up, panting and drenched in cold sweat, when an unnamed werewolf bit into his leg. It had been chasing him for what felt like an hour. Once awake, eyes painfully open and nervous, Harry realized he wasn't alone.

"Fuck! Bloody  _hell_ , Draco, are you trying to kill me?!" Harry gasped as he suddenly scrambled away fro his bed where a figure with pale grey eyes sat.

"Sorry! Sorry. I came down to grab a glass of water from the kitchen and I heard you screaming."

"Wha- Why are you up?"

He grimaced. "Nightmares. Freezing cold room. Black tea. Take your pick."

"Ha.  _Black_ tea."

"You're insufferable, Potter," Draco snorted. He let himself fall backwards onto the bed, across Harry's legs. A moment passed. Draco's voice returned, quieter this time. Harry had to strain to hear him. "Do you think the nightmares will ever go away?"

"I hope so."

"I mean, the war has barely started. We haven't fought in any battles yet. What if it just gets worse when it ends?  _If_ it ends?"

"It'll end, Draco."

"Yeah, but some wars rage on for decades. What if it doesn't end in our lifetimes? Whether they are lived out to their full potential or cut short?"

Harry didn't really have a response for that. "Let's just fight until we can't anymore."

"What if we're on the wrong side of history?"

A chill swept the room. Draco's words encapsulated everything that everybody in the Order feared, but didn't dare to speak of. "We're not."

"You and your Gryffindor confidence," Draco scoffed. He sat up, resting back on his hands behind him.

"Hey. We're not. I mean, yeah, we might not win. Voldemort's pretty fucking scary." Draco hummed in agreement. "But if we don't, it'll be a dictatorship. It'll be tyranny and terrifying. I'll  _definitely_ be dead if we don't win."

"Wow, so sure we can't make it without you. Really reassuring, too, Harry."

"No. I mean, if we lose, the first thing Voldemort will do is kill me. Hell, they haven't won yet and that's still the first thing he's been trying to do."

"Good point." Harry scooted towards Draco, sitting next to him. "Fuck, Harry, I'm  _scared_. I knew it'd be wrong to fight for him but.. the Order barely knows what they're doing. I'm- I'm scared I made the wrong choice."

"You didn't." Draco sarcastically laughed at that, as if to say  _oh, you Gryffindors._ "I'm serious. You didn't." He took Draco's hand in his own and looked into his eyes. "But, like, if he  _does_ win, which he won't, it won't last. Not forever. There will eventually be a group of radical wizards that overthrow him and reset the balance of power. Or, he won't make it out of Great Britain. Hitler may have won over the Germans, but not the Allies," Harry pointed out.

"Who's Hitler?"

"We need to get you a muggle textbook."

 

\--------

 

Remus and Sirius were, in fact, _not_ back by the third day when the Weasleys arrived. Harry had laid awake the entire night beforehand, straining to listen for Remus or Sirius. Pain wracked through his chest as he thought of his uncles having to deal with one of Remus’ transformations away from home, but as there was nothing he could do, Harry tried again and again to roll over into sleep. Whenever he did fall asleep, it was brief and nightmare-ridden. The longer he was away from the people he loved, the more he saw Cedric or Mr. Weasley or his mother in his dreams. Mr. Weasley’s attack was the worst; even if he didn’t die, the sheer amount of blood that _Harry_ had caused always made him sit up in a pool of sweat.

Around dawn, his door cracked open and a tall figure snuck in, quietly crossing the room. “Ron?” Harry was exhausted from his lack of sleep, and let his mind hope.

"Nope, just me again,” Draco replied. Harry groaned and faced him.

"What?” He grumbled out.

"I just- I haven’t slept well since I got here, okay? That room is too large and freezing cold. It reminds me of my father’s.”

"Draco, the last thing I want to do is talk about your father right now. Just get used to the cold, I have.”

Harry could see the distinct nose crinkle through the soft light entering his window and falling across Draco’s face. “It's not just because of the cold that's too unbearable in only boxers-"

“I risked my ass going to Gringotts to get money so that you could buy actual pyjamas and t-shirts and jeans, Malfoy,” Harry started, pushing himself up so that he was no longer lying on his stomach. He tucked his knees beneath him and sat on them while wrapping the twisted duvet around his shoulders. It exposed the plain sheets beneath, and while the thick material draped over his back and shoulders, his thighs and chest were exposed, as he was only in the boxers Draco was mocking.

"Yes, and thank you, they're warm and comfortable and all of that. But listen.. you were-you were.. whimpering. In your sleep. I could hear it from the end of your hall in the library. I'd gotten up again to read.”

Harry didn’t say anything.

"Cedric’s death, right?” Draco moved to sit next to Harry on the bed. “That night during the Triwizard-“

"We talked enough about bad dreams and Voldemort last night. Are we going to do this every time I have a nightmare? I don't think I could do this every night."

"Every night? Merlin, Harry, how do you sleep?! I thought I had problems when my father’s meetings with the Dark Lord would enter my dreams once or twice every month but.. every night?!”

"... At least this week. Really, it hasn’t been this bad for awhile... I mean, once or twice a week... Fifth Year was when it started up for a bit but then—“

"How long did the nightmares last every day for in Fifth Year?”

"... Fifth Year.”

"No, I know that’s when they started but—"

"The entire year... Started the summer before the first term too.”

Draco turned ghost white. “Merlin, Harry, how do you sleep?” He reiterated. Naturally, Harry’s shoulders rose and then fell.

The Gryffindor found himself shrugging a lot around Draco, as if pushing his problems aside most of the time. The room quieted and the strong wind outside blew against the window pane, starting to create a draft. Draco shivered under the crew neck sweatshirt, lettered with a green _LONDON_ , that Harry had bought him in a muggle tourist shop. It was the only thing on the tiny sale wrack that had green on it.

"Why’re you here?” Harry asked, breaking the silence.

"Neither of us are sleeping alone very well,” Draco carefully began, his shoulder and head still turned away from Harry as they sat next to each other on the bed. “So I figured-“

"Oh, stop talking, you prick,” Harry mumbled, wrapping his arms—and consequently, the duvet—around Draco.

A small shout of protest escaped the blond as Harry’s bare legs tangled around his, and Potter’s arms latched around Malfoy’s waist as the two sat on Harry's bed. He rested his chin on Draco's shoulder. He'd come up behind the Slytherin, so his legs were open enough for him to put his bare chest against Draco's clothed back, and his hands rested in Draco's lap.

"Your hair smells like vanilla.”

"You’re such a git.”

"Yes, but I’m warm.”

"... Why the bloody hell are you so warm?” Draco asked the question in a sigh as he collapsed back into Harry a bit.

"Probably the fast heart beat and the thrashing from nightmares. But Ron uses me as a radiator in the dorm.”

"What the fuck is a radiator?”

"Never mind. Could we at least try to sleep?"

"Not with you wrapped around me."

"It's fine, Ron and I do this all the time, like I said."

"The only person I've  _cuddled_ with was Blaise. Okay but Theo and I often seek refuge in each other's- stop laughing!"

"We won't cuddle, we'll just huddle."

"Oh, well.. fine. Me and Theo, you and Ron, it's the same thing, right?"

"Just two friends, fucking freezing in a bed in a building in London in the winter."

Harry slowly leaned back, peeling himself away from Draco. He kept one of his hands in his own, the only connection between the two as he dramatically lowered himself down onto the mattress. Draco rolled his eyes, he was twisted at the waist, his hips still in between Harry's legs and one of his hands in Harry's. Eventually, he sighed and let go of Harry, adjusting himself so his knee was where his arse used to be, and slowly laid on top of Harry, their bodies pressing together. Making sure to slip down far enough, Draco's legs extended past Harry's, as he was taller than the boy, and he angled his head down just a bit so his head rested fully on Harry's chest. Draco caught himself tracing a finger over chest, right in front of his eyes. "This is cuddling. I cuddle Theo, and this is cuddling."

"You're wrong. It's  _huddling._ You so are not confident with your masculinity."

"No, you're  _too_ confident with yours."

"I am, but being bi is quite nice. Although, like with Ron, it doesn't prevent me from platonically- OI! COME BACK!”

Draco had shot up, kneeling back on his heels between Harry's legs again.

”Honestly, what is the matter with you?! I need to go to bed-“

”You aren’t straight?! We’re two not-straight guys sleeping in a _bed_ together. Honestly, this was a terrible idea, I can’t believe—“ Harry gentle clasped his hand around Malfoy’s wrist as the pureblood moved to leave.

“Neither of us are sleeping if you walk out of this room.”

Draco relaxed against Harry’s grip slightly and muttered something aling the lines of “Harry fucking Potter,” but Harry took that as a good sign. He wrapped his arms around Draco once more when he laid back down. This time, he was beside Harry, and said boy had one arm around his torso and a leg flung over his hips. The Slytherin attempted to whine when Harry’s head rested on his chest.

”Shut up. There’s one pillow on this bed and I’m not snogging you in my sleep. Besides, Ron spoons me all the time, you’re fine.”

”I don’t need to know what happens between you and Weasley- Ow!”

Harry had _lightly_ punched Draco in the gut. “The Weasleys will be here in _five hours_ , Malfoy, and I need sleep. You’re warmer with me here anyways.”

When Malfoy didn’t say anything else, Harry put his arm back over the boy’s stomach and closed his eyes. And it felt like only two seconds later when Harry opened his eyes to brighter sunlight in his room and dancing along Draco’s face, tilted to one side, as Harry found their legs intertwined together under the sheets.

And then his brain caught up with his ears.

And Harry realized why he’s been jolted awake.

 

For a second, he figured it was Voldemort. Loud, throbbing pain drummed down on his head and Harry instincitvely shot up and clasped his hands over his ears. He realized that no, it wasn’t Voldemort that was screaming, it was Walburga Black. And Ronald Weasley.

 

————

 

“ _FILTH! SCUM! DISGRACEFUL BLOOD-TRAITORS DESTROYING THE SANCTITY OF—_ “

"WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK IS GOIN’ ON HERE?!”

There was too much noise and commotion as a small owl flew into the room and began hooting. Harry shoved Draco out of his bed to hide the evidence, but only ended up pissing off the boy. “OW! MOTHERFUCKER, WHO JUST-“

"Shit! Sorry! Please can we all- Ron stop shouting can you-“

"RONALD WEASLEY. I’M _TRYING_ TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH SIRIUS’ LOVELY MOTHER, NOW SHUT YOUR TRAP.”

Mrs. Weasley’s order came as final, and Ron stood in the doorway, gaping. Finally, Walburga’s portrait was dealt with by Fred and Ginny, (“ _THE NOBLE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS, DIRTIED BY—"_  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it, you old hag,”) and Harry could hear himself think.

"Ron,” he began carefully, "this isn’t what it looks like.”

"Isn’t what it— BLOODY RIGHT IT IS WHAT IT-"

With a soft _crack!_ George appeared behind Ron and hit him on the head with a copy of the Daily Prophet. “They just shut Wally up, you wanna fire her off again? Hiya Harry. And.. Malfoy. On the floor. Anyways, Mum’s making breakfast, hurry down.” George smiled at Harry and quickly left, obviously not wanting to stay as his brother slowly became more and more red.

"It’s not— He was cold and— My dreams were all Cedric— You know how it is in the dormitory,” Harry weakly tried. Ron finally shut his mouth and shook his head.

"Unbelievable. Just put on some pants before you Ginny or Luna see you.”

 

"At least you were wearing clothes,” Harry whispered to Draco as the two slipped down the stairs to join the Weasleys (and Luna) for breakfast.

"We might as well be a couple,” Draco spat, still surly about the way he wished Ron a Happy Christmas that morning. “He thinks we’re shagging.”

"Ron thinks everyone is shagging. Besides, if we’re a couple, it just means he doesn’t have to see as much of Zabini.”

"Arsehole,” Draco said, punching a grinning Harry in the shoulder as they entered the kitchen.

"Mornin’ Mrs. Weasley! Happy Christmas!”

"Oh! Happy Christmas, Harry. I hope we didn’t wake you?” Mrs. Weasley’s voice sounded muffled to Harry as she pulled him into a big hug.

"Oh we woke them up alright,” Ron muttered sulkily from behind his morning tea.

"Malf- _Draco_ , Happy Christmas.” Mrs. Weasley had spotted the uncomfortable and pale boy behind Harry. She looked similar to how Remus and Sirius had when they first saw him; not quite sure if she wanted to give him a hug or not. She eventually decided on tightly embracing him, and Harry noticed that Draco seemd to appreciate it. After a holiday break without his mother, Harry imagined it must’ve been hard. He himself deeply missed his uncles.

“Dumbledore told me.. well, let’s just say, I understand why you’re here, and if you need anything—anything at all, dear—just let me know. Now off. Off, you go, join the others in the sitting room!”

Mrs, Weasley shooed them out to get started on breakfast, so Harry, Ron and Draco joined the twins, Ginny and her girlfriend in the sitting room. A chorus of “Happy Christmas!”s were exchanged, and Luna even gave Draco a pat on the back. Ginny seemed eager not to touch the Slytherin with a meter stick, and the twins were curiously glancing at him. Ron was pointedly ignoring Malfoy, so Harry realized it was his job to make the boy feel welcome.

Which he promptly did not do.

Instead, he dumped Draco onto Luna for the day, and te girl happily explained Wrackspurts and Nargles to him, while Harry caught up with Ron.

"I sent you four letters and you never responded!”

"That’s because Kreacher’s been stealing all the mail,” Draco interrupted briefly, before turning back to Luna and nodding along.

"Wait, shit, has Sirius or Remus-"

"They haven’t owled,” Draco interjected again.

"How does he know everything?” Ron growled.

Harry shrugged. “You get used to it.”

 

————

 

Mrs. Weasley quickly found out about Harry and Draco’s _abandonment_ by Sirius and Remus, but decided to keep her choice words for the men.  Instead, she and Mr. Weasley-who mysteriously went deaf whenever Draco spoke-shared their gifts for the children, minus Bill and Charlie who were coming that evening. Everyone opened up their own package of fudge and other sweets, as well as warm wool sweaters. Each were a different colour with the first initial of the recipient’s name on the front. Luna and Harry both got one in their packages, and Mrs. Weasley nervously pulled out an extra one.

“I’m terribly sorry, dear, I didn’t have time to wrap it. I only recently learned you’d be staying with us--”

“Mum! It’s bloody  _ horrifying _ !” Ron’s voice jumped an octave as he watched his mother protrude a dark green sweater with a grey “D” on the front of it, and hand it to Draco.

“It’s quite lovely, Mrs. Weasley, thank you.”

Draco smiled warmly at Ron’s mother and pulled it on over Harry’s t-shirt he wore around the house, even though he’d already received a few other shirts as ‘early Christmas presents.’ “Really, it’s absolutely splendid. Although, I’m sure a crimson or navy blue would’ve worked just as well.”

“House colours after all, my dear boy. Although, it was quite unusual to use those two colours…”

“I wish you hadn’t. I didn’t realize there’d be family gifts and it slipped my mind to get you and Mr.--”

“Never mind that. I made two for the other boys, one each for Angelina and Katie, one for Hermione, and obviously Luna got a sweater as well. It was no trouble at all to make you one.”

Ron leaned over to Harry and whispered in his ear. “Ugh, look at him. You boyfriend’s practically  _ gushing _ .” He laughed when Harry shoved him and muttered “Not my boyfriend” back.

The rest of the group that was there exchanged gifts as well. Harry, and subsequently Draco as well since he helped Harry pick out the gifts, got a gift for each of the Weasleys and his friends. Ginny received a silver chain bracelet with a broomstick on it; Ron got a new poster of the Chudley Cannons’ starting Keeper; Fred and George both got matching wristbands that when written on, displayed the message on the opposite band; Luna got a new pair of radish earrings; and when they got to Grimmauld Place, both Charlie and Bill would receive jeweled hair ribbons, Charlie’s of a dragon and Bill’s decorated with goblin-wrought silver. Hermione, of course, got the book Draco had picked out, it was a comparison of muggle vs. wizard artwork in the late seventeenth century, one similar to the others he'd bought himself. Harry had also decided to give Mrs. Weasley a purple silk shawl, and Mr. Weasley a new pair of brown-rimmed glasses. 

“Malfoy.. For you.”

“Here’s yours, Potter.”

“Oh, hell no.”

“You didn’t.”

“I did. And apparently... You did too?”

“Potter, why the bloody fuck would you buy _ me _ gloves?! I already have a pair!¨

They  _ had _ been sitting on the floor, but now Draco was rolling on it, clutching a pair of wool gloves to his stomach. “I got you those so I could steal yours!” Harry explained, trying his best but failing miserably at not laughing along.

“What’s so funny?” Luna asked. A bright grin spread across her face as Harry held up the exact same pair of wool gloves that he had given Draco. “That is quite amusing,” she said warmly. Ginny pressed a kiss to her cheek and then quickly finished arguing about love potions with Fred.

“Oh! Harry, your godfather left you a present, right?” Draco attempted not to growl at Ron when he pointed out the fact that he was calling Harry by his first name now.

“I’ll probably leave it there until Pads gets back.”

“When will they be home?” Ginny asked. Harry shrugged in response, hating himself for doing so. He disliked not knowing so much.

“It’s an Order mission, and apparently, although I’m  _ part of the Order now _ , I’m not ‘official’ enough to know.” He was heated, and he knew he was heated, but Harry had no control over his anger when it came to Sirius and Dumbledore making decisions without first consulting him. Mrs. Weasley looked nervous as she tried to distract him with the task of unpacking with Ron, but it didn’t help cool Harry off as he stomped down the hallway with Ron and Ron’s trunk.

“He’s as mature as a child sometimes,” Draco murmured after the dark-skinned Gryffindor (and pointedly not looking at his arse in the dark grey sweatpants).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feeder is a real band that released their first commercially available EP in 1996, but they had some copies of a two-song EP available at their shows, so let's pretend they popped into a record store in London during a tour and met a long-haired, tattooed man by the name of Sirius Black. They're a pretty awesome post-britpop band. Check 'em out on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ZZr6Y49NZWRJc0uCwqpMR
> 
> Comment and kudos if you liked it!


	9. A Very Weasley Winter Hols

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: Graphic depictions of violence, blood, injuries, cuts, the whole nine yards. NOT self-harm, though. The next chapter or two will also have a TW for scars.
> 
> Sirius and Remus return. Draco wasn't right in his grim prediction of their death, but neither was Harry in his quick and successful expectancy of their mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on a rollllllll. Let's see if I actually continue to post tonight or get too tired. (I've been working on this fic for approximately twelve hours (almost completely straight) as I write this note, before I even edit down this chapter or write anything else.) Anybody who says writing a fic is quick and easy is a LIAR. I can write a five-page essay in an hour, but one chapter of a fic? Five fucking hours. I love it though, I love the challenge, I love the ideas, I love the feeling of typing and editing. I love writing, don't let anyone tell you Toni doesn't, I just fucking. hate. the long hours in my desk chair. WHOO LET'S GO I'M WRITING THIS NOTE INSTEAD OF THE CHAPTER COME ON TONI JUST DO IT.

“Honestly, Harry, it’s completely unreasonable for Remus and Sirius to just  _ leave _ \--”

“Sorry, am I interrupting?”

Hermione looked surprised as Draco took a few steps into Harry’s room and Ron shot daggers at him. Despite his and Hermione's tension over the term, what with Lavender and all, Ron's fiery response was pretty immediate. “Mate, did you not  _ hear _ her speaking?! Of course you bloody interrupted!” Draco’s response was painfully automatic.

“Sorry, Weasley, I guess I just assumed that the  _ mud-- _ ”

“OI! Shut it!” Harry cut Draco off. “Honestly, not helping. Either  _ one _ of you,” he added softly, shooting a look to both Malfoy and his best friend. “Apologize.”

“ _ WHAT?! _ I’m not gonna apologize to some nasty pureblood thinking he’s better than ‘Mione--”

“Granger, I apologize. That was wrong of me. It’s a horrid habit that I was unfortunately taught as an uneducated child, and I know now that using that slur to degrade you is wrong. I hope you can not only forgive me in the future, but also help me, as I’m trying to rid my vocabulary of the word.”

Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s jaws all dropped open. They stared in disbelief at Malfoy.

“I- Er, thanks.. Draco. I guess. I don’t know if this is necessarily a subsequent apology for  _ six years _ worth of bullying but… it’s definitely a start.”

“Now, Weasley, I believe you had something to say?” Malfoy turned to Ron, a flash in his eye.

“Sod off,” Ron grumbled, forcing his way out of the room.

“Harry, darling, you’re staring.” Malfoy smirked as Harry finally closed his mouth and glanced away, a blush climbing up his neck. He mumbled something faint.

“Erm, Harry told me. About- About the book,” Hermione began, her voice polite but oddly high-pitched. “Thanks for… picking something so thoughtful out.”

Draco nodded at her. “Potter and Weasley are terrible at giving gifts. Really, Hermione,” Draco said the name slow, as if to test whether it was okay or not for him to use it, “as long as I got something better than whatever they’d picked out in previous years, I knew you’d love it. it was no problem.”

“Still,” she hummed thoughtfully.

After a few more minutes of polite conversation, Hermione excused herself to go talk to Charlie, Angelina and Fleur about S.P.E.W., the only people left in the house she hadn’t tried to convince yet. Draco attempted to use the opportunity to talk to Harry about his uncles, but Hary shut down that conversation immediately. “I’m not getting it from beneath their bed until they’re both here.”

Draco didn’t have the heart to tell Harry that he might never open the gift then, seeing as it’d be a miracle if even one of his uncles came back alive, never mind  _ both _ of them.

 

\-- -- -- --

 

Harry’s knee had been bouncing so much at dinner that Draco had to put his hand on Harry’s thigh just to calm it. Luckily, it wasn’t from exhaustion or any form of lack of sleep. Charlie had announced he  that he was  staying over after Christmas dinner, a complete surprise to Mrs. Weasley. Ginny and Hermione were on the second floor in one room with Ron and Harry in another. Angelina and Katie crammed into a room on the third floor across from Fred and George. Bill was very adamant about only sharing a room with Fleur, which nobody wanted to happen, so he was left to his own for fear of anyone being hexed. Fleur had instead been paired off with Luna, who was more than happy to share her small bedroom. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had the fifth and final room on the third floor. There wasn’t any space left for Charlie, especially as the Black’s had large rooms, the guest ones were barely big enough for two people, if that. Draco having the largest room in the entire magical building to himself was completely absurd. Of course, they could have just opened up Sirius or Regulus’ room, but as Harry’s godfather hadn’t ever offered the two rooms to anyone (besides, of course, Remus), the Weasleys and co. felt it unfit to use them, no matter how cramped the family was.

The Malfoy ex-heir had been offering his room up to others since he first heard the Weasleys were coming to stay, but nobody seemed to want to take him up on it. Every time Harry tried to, Ron’s mum insisted that it “Wasn’t necessary!” Now, it was just ridiculous to deny the offer, what with Charlie sleeping in Grimmauld Place. So Harry had temporarily relocated to Draco’s room and given Charlie his twin bed next to Ron’s. Although the room was substantially colder (“I swear, Black’s mum must’ve put freezing charms on the walls before she died,”) Harry had slept much easier with Draco than he had on his own. Neither were having as many nightmares. Mrs. Weasley insisted on transfiguring an old dresser into a bed for Harry, but he always ended up in Draco’s anyways. It was larger, had softer sheets, and also another person in it that made the night slightly warmer. The boys, of course, opted  _ out _ of telling Mrs. Weasley which bed Harry actually slept in.

No, his knee wasn’t bouncing to keep him awake like it often did in Professor Binns’ class, nor was it because he was shivering. Harry’s knee seemed to perpetually bounce during the last three days of his visit, out of sheer anxious fear. Sirius had said maybe less than a week, maybe more. It had officially been  _ over two and a half weeks _ since he saw his uncles. No Order mission over Christmas should take that long.  Mrs. Weasley had noticed his nerves, and asked her husband to give Harry as many tasks as possible to keep him busy. Order members frequently stopped by, now that the house was finally  occupied by people other than two teenage boys, and Harry found himself overwhelmed in greeting all of them. He still didn’t mind it when Tonks stopped by, but she only reminded him of Sirius more. Plus, she seemed just as antsy as he was to talk to the missing couple.

Finally, with only one day left before Harry’s return to Hogwarts, a  _ crack! _ and a bang announced that Harry’s uncles were home. In better condition than Malfoy had expected, thank Merlin, but much worse than Harry had hoped for.

“FUCKING HELL!” A tangled mess of dirty limbs appeared on the kitchen floor and Harry nearly jumped out of his seat. Draco clenched the spot where he’d been  _ attempting _ to calm the Gryffindor so tight that he was leaving bruises.

“SIRIUS BLACK!” Mrs. Weasley banged into the kitchen, furious, and almost instantly set off Walburga’s portrait. “YOU LEAVE TWO TEENAGE BOYS ALONE FOR  _ OVER A WEEK _ IN THIS HOUSE WITH NOTHING BUT THEIR HORMONES--”

“Mum! Please will you just wait a second?!” Ron weakly attempted to cut in.

“ _ DISGUSTING, LYING CHILD, RUNNING OFF WITH A HALF-BREED-- _ ” Hermione darted out of the room, closing the door behind her to stop Mrs. Weasley’s shouts from getting to the enchanted painting.

“--THEY LEFT TO GO TO DIAGON ALLEY! THEY WERE SEEN BY MUGGLES AND WIZARDS ALIKE, BLACK, AND THEY HAD ZERO SUPERVISION. WHAT IF- MERLIN, WHAT IF HARRY GOT HURT?!” Mrs. Weasley had been blinded by her rage, and, from her angle by the door, couldn’t even see Sirius or Remus lying on the floor. She had assumed Harry’s godfather was ashamed, hiding from her out of view.

“Wow, so glad she cares about me,” Draco hissed into Harry’s ear. The younger boy was attempting to get his best friend’s mother to  _ help Sirius because fuck, was that his blood or somebody else’s? _

“ _ MUDBLOOD SCUM! A MUDBLOOD, IN MY HOME! DIRTYING THESE CARPETS--”  _ Walburga had finally stopped screaming, and Harry made a mental note to thank Hermione later.

“HOW WOULD YOU EXPLAIN TO DUMBLEDORE THAT A CHILD--”

“ _ MOLLY PREWETT WEASLEYl. _ ” The room stilled.

Sirius’ voice rose off of the floor. He appeared eerily calm even as tears poured down his face. “If y-you could please c-come closer, I would appre-appreciate s-some assistance. I do b-believe I just got spl-splinched, and R-Remus just got m-mauled to the br-brink of death by Fenrir Greyb-back for the th-third time in his l-life.”

Mrs. Weasley instantly began shooing her children out of the room left and right, but Harry wouldn’t budge and Draco didn’t leave his side.

“No--shit--James, don’t leave. Please, I- I need you here.”

“Sirius. Sirius, that’s Harry. Remember? Harry, James and Lily’s son--” Arthur tried to console him as he began to lose consciousness. “Harry’s just a kid, he shouldn’t be seeing--”

“James, I need you here. If-- If I die tonight, tell… tell my cousin I’m sorry? And- And remind Moony that I love him. And Lily, send her my regards.”

“Sirius, you won’t be dying tonight.” Arthur’s voice was firm. Until he almost passed out at the sight of what was under Sirius’ shirt. A long, deep stripe up Sirius’ side was missing. It was a clean, surgical cut that was pouring blood and Harry’s godfather was feeling the effects of it fast.

“Fuck-- Molly! Molly, he was splinched, damn it, he was splinched bad! I- I think he’s missing a few ribs!”

Harry didn’t know where the ground was or what year it was anymore. His world had turned upside done at the sheer amount of blood spilled on the kitchen floor. Nobody seemed to mind if he stayed in the kitchen anymore.

Sirius was going to pass out in a matter of seconds, and Remus was already unconscious. He was covered in dirt and his previously healed scars seemed to stand out even more. Harry noticed a few more scars around his body from the transformation he went through abroad, but what was most concerning was a large, fresh slash on Remus’ cheek, undoubtedly from Greyback.

Charlie had enough experience in burns and injuries from beasts that he immediately went to work on Remus, while Mrs. Weasley sank to her knees and began performing anti-splinching spells. Bill, from his experience in Egyptian vaults, could identify dark magic injuries just as well as Draco, so the two went searching for burns and remnants of dark magic on Harry’s uncles’ bodies. Mr. Weasley attempted to help with Sirius’ splinching incident, but there wasn’t much he could do.

“Harry,” Mrs. Weasley spoke high through her sobs. “Harry, please, I need you to cast a patronus.”

“A- A what?”

“A patronus. I know Remus said you could cast one. You need to send a message with it to tell Dumbledore and Mad-Eye what happened. Can you do that? Please, Harry?”

Harry’s eyes were glued to the scene in front of him, Ron’s eldest brothers and parents stained red by his father’s best friends, Draco too. Harry tore himself away just long enough to cast a feeble white mist. No stag appeared.

He was staring again, encapsulated by the bodies (was that all they were at this point?) on the floor. He tried to think of a happy memory, of the summer in London with his uncles in Remus’ flat, but all that came to mind was how hopelessly lost that life was now that a war was brewing. All Harry could see was blood. Before he even processed the fact that Draco had moved, wet hands cupped Harry’s face.

Soft lips met his.

“Keep your eyes closed,” Draco’s warm breath danced over Harry’s cheek, “and cast a patronus.”

There was no blood. No dirt, no tangle of bodies. Just Draco, with his burning hot lips, and the cold winter air. They were kissing outside of an unknown club, the high Harry'd felt after seeing Feeder was coursing through his veins. The image shifted into Harry’s bedroom in a flat in London. They'd gotten home after the show. It was his and Draco’s. They’d moved in together after Hogwarts. After the war that had ended in a matter of months, not a matter of decades. The right side had won; Harry was alive. He saw Teddy, the little boy he cared for so much, Draco was smiling with Teddy as he jumped on the bed.

“ _ EXPECTO PATRONUM! _ ”

Without opening his eyes, Harry knew the stag was there. Warmth, not hot humidity with a metallic scent, filled the room. Comfort and home, a small piece of James. Sirius Black’s godson gave a message to the stag, and within three minutes of it leaving, another  _ crack! _ sounded and the fireplace burned green. Albus Dumbledore and Mad-Eye Moody stepped passed a dark-haired boy clutching his pale enemy, sobbing harder than he did when Cedric died, and immediately began waving their wands.

 

\-- -- -- --

 

“Harry. Harry.  _ Harry _ , what happened?!”

“Hermione, I told you, he really shouldn’t be disturbed right now--”

“Oh, be honest for a second,  Draco! We’re his best friends!”

“Yeah! And you’re just--”

“ _ What _ , Ron?! I’m just  _ what _ ?!”

“I’m okay,” Harry murmured. He was sleeping in a hard wooden chair in the kitchen and wasn’t particularly comfortable. Molly Weasley had cast a spell to make him fall asleep when he began getting hysterical as Dumbledore and Moody worked on his uncles. The two men were no longer lying on the floor, but a dark stain still remained. Hermione followed Harry’s gaze and glanced nervously at it.

“Harry,” she spoke softly, “could you tell us what happened? After we left, that is?”

“Nothing, really. Everyone was working on Remus and Sirius. I told Dumbledore and Moody what happened with a Patronus. That was it.”

Malfoy looked as though he wanted to say something, but quickly decided against it. “Harry, Sirius woke up briefly while you were asleep. He was definitely in pain, but he wanted to let you know to see him as soon as possible.”

“You can step outside. I’ll be fine, Malfoy.”

The fair-skinned boy looked nervous to leave Harry alone, but left nonetheless. It gave Harry a chance to breathe and to talk to his two best friends, whom he’d been ignoring as of late due to their dramatics. “He called me James.”

“What?” Hermione asked.

“He called me James. Sirius figured he was dying and didn’t want  _ James _ to leave the room. He thought I was my dad.”

“To be fair, you do look a lot like the bloke. So I’ve heard,” Ron added. Harry smiled weakly back.

“Should I go see Sirius?”

Hermione paused before she said anything. “I… think so. He seems okay now. Dumbledore and Moody really saved his and Remus’ life. They worked some strong magic really quickly. In fact, I think the spell Bill had been using before was--”

“Why’d you kiss him, Harry?”

Ron’s question didn’t need an explanation. “I hadn’t thought you lot saw that.”

“George and Fred opened the door a crack so we could see what Bill and Charlie were doing.” Hermione’s voice was soft and high. “And then we heard Mrs. Weasley ask you for the Patronus and--”

“Who does ‘we’ mean?”

“All of us? Ron’s brothers, Ginny, Fleur, Angelina and Katie too. I think Luna was still there as well.”

Harry rubbed his face with his hands. “You mean the only people that  _ didn’t _ see it were my gay godfather and his boyfriend?”

“If it makes you feel any better, I think Sirius has already heard about it. Remus would’ve by now too, if he’d woken up.”

“Why isn’t he awake yet, Hermione?” Harry's tone was desperate.

“I don’t know! He should be before we leave for--”

“Harry, why’d you do it?”

Ron’s voice was stronger this time, more sure of himself. He was sick of the deflections and rambling distractions. He didn’t want to talk about something more comfortable, Ron wanted to talk about  _ this. _ He wanted to talk about  _ why the bloody fuck _ that just happened.

“I don’t know. I was too distracted by Sirius and Remus and I needed something…  _ happy _ to produce the Patronus Charm, so Draco just… Yeah.”

“So he makes you happy?”

Harry swallowed and nodded, but looked away from his best mate as tears filled his eyes.

“Is this… going to be a common thing between you two now?”

“I have no idea,” Harry replied honestly. “And before you ask, I have no idea if I  _ want _ it to be either.” But the image of him and Draco living together that had supplied enough happiness for a Patronus begged to differ. He could see Ron think about his statement and process what it meant. 

"Mate, I didn't even know you were gay." The hurt was apparent in Ron's voice, and he realized why this was a big deal. Not only because it had been Draco, but because Harry had unknowingly kept a secret from his best friend. He hadn't even conciously did it, simply got distracted any time he truly thought about his sexuality. Kissing Draco felt.. good. He hadn't thought about it before, hadn't thought about them dating or coming out or any of that when they were tangled together in his bed, but now that he did, the thought made his heart ache for a bright future with the Slytherin.

"Bi," Harry simply responded. "Not gay, bisexual." 

"Ginny and Bill too, but I guess you already knew that," Ron commented. "Fred's pan, he told us this break. Said it wasn't a secret anymore." Ron's attempt at conversation was empty. Numbness ran through the air as he attempted not to seem hurt after Harry had seen it so plainly. But at the end of a long moment of silence, Ron simply grunted and jerked his head to the door.

Harry verbally filled in his message. “S’ppose we should go say hi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos if you liked it!


	10. Lily Matched Her Hazelnut Voice with her Hazelnut Shampoo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The good ol' Marauders are back in action. Minus Peter Pettigrew, the twat.
> 
> Kind of short.
> 
> Mostly nostalgic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd written about 30+ pages in a Google Doc already. Three chapters ago was all new, about a quarter was already written and saved here. Two chapters ago was about half prewritten (between stuff saved on AO3 and on the Google Doc), half new shit. Last chapter was mainly prewritten stuff with a few new lines and edits made. This is the same deal as the last chapter, which is why it's quick-to-post. I spent today writing new things, reviewing and editing everything saved on AO3, and rereading 30+ pages on the Google Doc, editing and adding over THERE, just to bring it over HERE and edit and add some more. I hope you guys like it, I'm working really hard. Lemme know what you think!

“Sirius.” The familiar feeling of new adrenaline and strong love flooded Harry as he rushed to his godfather’s side. He and Remus were sitting in Sirius’ bedroom. Remus, still asleep on the bed, and Sirius in a chair next to the werewolf. He was propped up with pillows behind him and a large bandage over his side, while Remus’ hand rested in his.

“Harry, m’boy,” Sirius grinned. He groaned but reached up towards Harry and gingerly gave him a hug. “Sorry, still a little sore. Bleeding stopped though, I’ll probably just have a wicked scar. Dumbledore and Moody really know their shit.”

Harry could never get over Sirius’ positive attitude after he got out of the house. Even bloodied and beaten, Sirius had finally  _ left _ and that meant he had stories he was itching to share. Harry would sit through them all with a plastered smile, but the only thing he cared about was that Sirius and Remus were both alive.

“What was the mission?” Hermione gushed. Sirius’ nose wrinkled.

“Dumbledore expected me to work my way into the pack of werewolves I spied on during the last war; the pack lead by the one person to blame for my condition.”

Remus had spoken the entire explanation with his eyes closed, but when Sirius stood up hurriedly (and immediately felt a stabbing pain from his ribs), he opened his eyes. Groaning and sitting up, Remus graciously accepted some chocolate from his lover.

“What Rem said,” Sirius added once in bed next to the wolf again. “It took us nearly a week to find the pack. A few were grateful we were with them, but we had to hide from Greyback and the others that recognized us from the last war.”

“We stayed hidden for another week or so when somebody ratted us out.” Remus gritted his teeth and Harry flinched from the metaphor. “It was the day of the full moon too. Siri fought well but there wasn’t much either of us could do. Greyback spent  _ days _ trying to torture out of us where the headquarters were.”

“How’d you get out of there?” Ron was sitting on the edge of the bed watching the two older men.

When Remus looked down in shame Harry knew something was wrong. “You three need to understand it wasn’t his choice. Being a lycanthrope can have other complications outside of the moon—“

“I turned.”

The room was silent. Ron spoke again, careful this time. “But when it was a full moon, right? Because otherwise it’s impossible—“

Remus shook his head. “No. It had come and gone two days before.”

“There haven’t been any counts of.. of anything like this before, though.” Hermione seemed almost excited as she scooted forward on the bed.

“Maybe not in books,” Remus snorted. “Greyback goes between human and wolf all the time. It makes him less human every time he does it outside of a full moon, though. I’ve heard stories of other wolves doing it too. I’ve just never.. I lost control that night. Half a week under Greyback’s control.. drives you nearly insane.” Moony shivered and Sirius pulled him closer. The two didn’t seem eager to leave each other’s touch any time soon.

Harry drew a rattled breath. “Well.. it wasn’t your fault or anything. I mean, it gave you the ability to fight Greyback—“

“You don’t understand,” Remus said, frustrated. “It was what Greyback wanted. I had never lost control to it before. He was laughing as I turned, I had even less control than a full moon. I nearly murdered Padfoot!”

Harry’s voice was firm with a nearly undetectable hint of anger. “But without it, you wouldn’t have made it out alive!”

Remus resigned to closing his eyes and rubbing his temples, clearly nursing a headache.

“Harry.” Sirius was soft on the young boy. “That doesn’t mean it was easy on Rem. Give him a break.”

“Don’t worry, as soon as I’m healed I’ll be out of here,” Remus moaned miserably.

Harry was bewildered. “What? Why?!”

“You aren’t safe if I can turn outside of the full moon. Once I’ve done it once, it gets easier and easier. You’re in danger with me here.”

Hermione, Ron, Harry and Sirius all exploded at once. Their shouts of disagreement made Remus shrink a little. The five voices never dropped in volume above yelling until Remus promised he wouldn’t leave them, and that he understood that they wanted—and needed—him there. Remus finally rose his hands in surrender and let the three teenagers leave. They quietly closed the door behind them as Moony rested his head on Sirius’ chest when they came face-to-face with Albus Dumbledore.

“A word, Harry.”

The two other kids shot concerned looks at Harry as Dumbledore waited for them to leave. Eventually, Hermione grabbed Ron’s elbow and they waited in Ron’s room for their friend. “What’s wrong, Professor?”

A walk around the house taught Harry that he shouldn’t leave Grimmauld Place because it “Concerned” Dumbledore, and that his headmaster was sorry for the “ah, certain  _ circumstances _ ,” that made him and Draco have to share the house alone for too long. When Harry attempted to tell Dumbledore that it really wasn’t too big of a deal for him and Draco, Dumbledore simply smiled vaguely and shook his head.

“Now, have you opened your gift from your godfather yet?”

Harry glanced desperately at Sirius’ door down the hall, as he and the Professor came to Ron’s bedroom. “No, sir. I was waiting for my uncles to get home.”

Dumbledore hummed in thought. “Perhaps not the best idea, as it was highly unlikely for them to have returned. However, in it, you’ll find more information that have to do with our meetings.”

The momentary excitement about more Order information nearly fully distracted Harry, but just as Dumbledore was almost to the stairs, he caught on. “Professor,” he began, “did you send Remus and Sirius on that mission knowing they wouldn’t make it back?”

With one blackened hand on the banister, Dumbledore paused, his back still towards Harry. “The real information gathered was how drastic Remus Lupin’s situation is.. I hadn’t known if he would return, Harry, I’d merely  _ hoped _ . Sirius wasn’t supposed to go, he still has use to the Order, but he demanded. Perhaps he knew if he wasn’t there, his friend would not survive.”

With that, the headmaster glided down the stairs and out the door in the blink of an eye. Slowly, the Chosen One turned into Ron’s room, mind racing and body shaky.

 

— — — —

 

“Happy Christmas, Harry. Even if we missed it.”

Lily Potter’s son sat, his green eyes twinkling, on Draco’s bed with the Slytherin, and his uncles sat on the leather couch Sirius summoned with a flick of his wand.

Draco and Harry had given Remus the finest, hand-crafted chocolate wizarding money couldn’t buy. Malfoy’s family had been gifted a lifetime supply of the extremely exquisite and rare treat for Lucius Malfoy’s hand in keeping a few family friends out of Azkaban. Although Draco had been exiled, he pulled a few strings to get Remus five bars of it.

For Sirius, Harry had found a muggle snow globe of the area in London that his, Remus’ and Sirius’ flat had been in. He, with the help of Draco and Hermione, enchanted it to show the current weather over the little street. The eldest Black son had teared up slightly upon remembering the stress-free summer they’d had. They were a proper family then. Remus had leaned over and pressed a kiss to his temple and given him a sideways hug when the werewolf saw the gift.

With the back of his hands, Sirius wiped his eyes. Then, he reached behind himself with a light grunt, as the skin and muscles on the left side of his body were still healing, and brought a box wrapped in brown paper, and one wrapped in silvery blue. When Harry tore into the brown package, he found a wooden box as wide as his shoulders and as long as a few lengths of his hands. It was about ten centimeters deep, and the top of the mahogany wood box was painted. In the middle of the lid was a stag, wolf, and large black dog standing around a pond in a forest. The forest was framed with carved flowers. Lilies, Sirius explained. The sides were plain mahogany wood and there was a brass lock, engraved with a few footprints. The lock didn’t have any space for a key to enter it, neither did it have a muggle number combination.

“How does it open?” Draco asked, tilting his head to look at all sides of it. Upon examination of the lock, Harry grinned. He tapped his wand on it and muttered a few words to himself.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

Sure enough, the lock popped open and hung in the clasp between the lid and body of the box. Sirius beamed proudly and Remus smirked, shaking his head as he knew what a terrible influence he and his best friends were upon Harry.

As the dark-skinned young wizard looked into the box, however, his brows furrowed. Insides were over a hundred tiny compartments, each with their own labeled lid. Confusion left Harry, however, when he flipped open one of the lids towards the middle and pulled out a vial. Inside was a wispy, silvery substance that Harry immediately recognized as memories.

“The other package is from Dumbledore,” Remus supplied. When Harry opened it, he found a shallow brass bowl that matched the lock, also engraved with lilies. It was perpetually filled with a clear liquid. Sirius reached over Harry, searched over the small compartments, and found the right one. He flipped the lid and slipped a vial out of it. Pulling out the cork and tipping it into the pensieve, images of a dark-haired boy that looked quite familiar and a red-haired girl, both in Gryffindor colors, swam to the surface.

“Is that you and Weasley?”

“Her name’s Ginny,” Harry mumbled to Draco.

“No, it isn’t her or Harry.” Sirius gestured for the other three to experience the memory. Harry went first, anticipating not the watery surface, but a cool floating feeling as he put his head into the liquid. He appeared next to Draco, Remus, and Sirius in Hogsmeade. Beside them stood Sirius. And Remus.

Except that pair of Sirius and Remus seemed around twenty years younger, and stood with a foot of distance between each other. They were also joined by a small, mousy boy named Peter. The Sirius and Remus not bandaged were wearing a leather jacket and a light gray sweater respectively. Both had black muggle jeans and Gryffindor scarves. Peter had Gryffindor gloves and gray trousers with a white button down. All had heavy winter coats on, and Harry felt a vague coldness tickle his skin.

The three boys trudged down Hogsmeade’s main street, Peter huffing to keep up on his shorter legs. The younger Remus seemed to walk lighter and with much more ease than the older Moony. Sirius had stuffed his hands deep into his pockets and was grumbling, and the Sirius next to Harry laughed at his seventeen-year-old self.

“Fuckin’ Potter with his fuckin’ plans. He was  _ supposed _ to walk with us.”

“You’re just pissed that he’s the only other person who knows how to conjure pocket-fire,” young Remus gleefully responded.

“Please, Moony, just give  _ me _ the fire,” Peter begged. “I’m freezing my ass off.”

“Nope!” Remus only smiled bigger as Peter through up his gloved hands in exasperation.

“Then Sirius, apologize.”

“Apologize for what?! Moony’s the one who won’t give us warmth,” Sirius spat.

Adult Remus elbowed Sirius’ counterpart. “Merlin, you were such a whiny twat.”

Sirius swatted at his lover, “Sod off. You were pining and wanted attention.”

“So were you.”

“Can we go to Three Broomsticks then?” Teenage Sirius began whining again.

“James said to meet him—“

“Fuck Jamie!” Sirius cut Peter off.

“You seem to want to fuck him awfully bad today,” Remus coolly pointed out.

Draco, Harry, and his uncles shuffled along after the three marauders. “We could just go there and wait for James to find us,” Peter pointed out.

“No.”

“Pads, Merlin’s beard, why not?!”

“Because, Peter,” Remus explained, a smile edging onto his face, “that makes too much sense and Black wants to be in a bad mood.”

“Don’t  _ call _ me that.”

The three boys stopped as Sirius had pulled his balled fists out of his pockets. His chest was heaving up and down as he glared at sixteen-year-old Remus. Peter squeaked a little.

“Sirius became either inexplicably angry or inexcusably flirtatious when he found out he was in love with me. One could say I handled my feelings much better,” Remus whispered to the group.

“That’s a lie,” Sirius retorted. “You would tease me relentlessly, verbally  _ and _ physically. Little shit.”

“Not too unlike a certain marauder’s son and his blond friend,” Remus muttered.

Draco choked a little and Harry’s blush crept down his neck as they both pretended to not hear the older men and turned their attention back on the memory.

The younger Moony had opened his mouth to stay something. “Siri, look.” He was breathless and raised a shaking finger in front of him.

“I’m not falling for one of your pranks—“

“Fucking damn it, Padfoot,  _ look _ !” The teenage Remus grabbed Sirius by the leather jacket and whirled him around.

Walking down the cobblestone road lined with bright and bustling shops, walked Harry Potter’s parents. Lily was giggling at something James said. He looked proud and his eyes filled with affection as he looked down at the red-head clutching his arm like a lifeline as snow sprinkled their hair.

“You’re shitting me,” Sirius breathed.

“No way! It’s a lie! It’s— It’s Frank with polyjuice. It  _ has _ to be.” Peter shook his head

Remus cocked his head. “My, my. Jamie finally picked his perfect flower.”

“Hiya guys!” James Potter waved his hand high above his head. He and Lily hurried forward to join the group of three.

Harry’s heart was hammering and he couldn’t help the “Mum. Dad,” that escaped his lips. Automatically, he took a step towards them.

His father, with dark skin and wild black hair, was only distinguishable from Harry with hazel eyes behind his rectangle glasses and about ten added centimeters to his height. He was the same age that Harry was, though, and the youngest Potter was at roughly 175 centimeters. Harry was taller than Lily, as she stood at 165 centimeters. Her cheeks and nose were pink from the cold, but not as vibrant as her red hair. It was a deeper color than Ginny’s, but her freckles were the same as the youngest Weasley’s. Hers danced over a longer, thinner nose instead of a button one, however. Her eyelashes were long and held a few snowflakes. They blinked over green orbs. Her pale hands came up to brush a strand of hair, just long enough to drape over her coat-clad chest.

“She was beautiful,” Remus noted.

“Er, hi, Jamie,” Sirius said. He quickly put his shoulder-length hair up in a messy bun, and Draco caught the Remus belonging to the memory staring painfully at the action. The Slytherin recognized the expression from his own face whenever he watched Harry laugh with his whole body, his head thrown back.

“Sirius. Peter,” Lily said curtly.

“I’d been a prick to her,” the older Sirius muttered to Harry. “Constantly teased her about James. Remus was a gentleman, though, they would always study together for charms. Git made me think  _ he _ liked her too.”

“Remus, darling, how are you?” The voice that drifted from Lily’s mouth was warm like roasted hazelnuts. It was playful but elegant, where Ginny’s was quick and sharp. She reached up on her tiptoes to give Remus, who was nearly thirty centimeters taller than the girl, a hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he seemed vaguely surprised. But he pulled her in tightly, wrapping his arms around her waist. It looked quite awkward and James smiled shyly under Sirius’ scrutinizing gaze.

“Lily,” came Remus’ voice behind her red hair, “this will never be a proper hug until you let me pick you up.”

A groan escaped the girls lips and she pulled back slightly, holding Remus an arms’ distance away and studying his face. “Fine,” she gave in, “just don’t tell anyone. And no, Potter, you aren’t tall enough to do this.” She added the last bit sternly, pointing a finger at Prongs to shut his mouth.

James pouted and Remus shrugged. He wrapped his arms around Lily once more and lifted her up. She yelped slightly but laughed, hugging Remus back as her feet dangled above the road. He set her down carefully again and she thanked him.

“Your mother always gave the best hugs,” Sirius with bitter remorse.

Remus laughed. “And her shampoo smelled like hazelnut. Always. Even during the war she insisted Dumbledore bring some to her while in hiding.”

Back on the ground, Lily stepped towards James and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Peter gasped and Sirius’ face broke into a grin despite himself. “Did ya poison her?” He joked. James shoved him.

“Twat,” Harry’s father muttered, blushing deeply. Lily’s pale hand in his dark one seemed to be the uniting force of the world. A muggle-born in a long line of purebloods, humble intelligence with cocky arrogance, opposite with opposite.

“He was a proud, proud fucker,” Sirius began sadly, “but he had one of the brightest damn minds I’d ever met. He matched Lily. Less book and useful smarts, but he was fearless and fast. He took awhile to make connections, not unlike yourself Harry, but when he did, he could come up with a plan faster than McGonagall could say ‘detention.’ He would transfigure a hair brush into a deer just to get out of brushing his hair. The lot of us were smart, brains quick and full enough to get all Outstandings if we wanted. But Jamie and I spent too much time pranking and daydreaming about Lily and Rem. Peter just wasn’t confident enough. Moony was the only one to live to his full potential.”

As Sirius talked, the four pulled out of the pensieve, and the cold winter’s air was replaced with a somewhat empty feeling. Harry realized that since the pensieve didn’t leave wetness on his cheeks, it was tears on his face. They were hot and he didn’t know where they came from, but then Draco hugged him from behind and leaned his head on Harry’s shoulder.

“There’re over one hundred-fifty memories,” Remus said as Sirius scooped the memory back into its vial. He muttered a quick “Mischief managed,” and the lock clicked shut.

“Most are mine and Sirius’, but Hagrid, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Mr. Weasley helped. A few other teachers too. Even Snape gave a few for the box.” Harry snorted at that. “Now, not all of these are as happy as your mum and dad’s first date, Harry. Some are our fights, some are important information about the first war, although those are mostly Dumbledore’s. Some show your parents’ faults, but it was important to us that you saw who they were. And should anything happen to either of us, you have our memories so you don’t have to miss out on learning about the marauders and our friends.”

“Thank you.” Harry’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Thank you. I love it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and kudos if you liked it!


	11. Unofficial Official Coming Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty smutty with some background info. Mostly skippable if you'd like :)

Sirius and Remus promised to give Draco his gift later, but decided that Harry needed space and Remus needed sleep. Once Harry stopped crying, he and Draco sat on the floor, talking. Talking about the things they’d mentioned but ignored, the things that felt too personal to reveal even a day ago but now, after the memory, felt right to share.

At first, it was about Lily and James. Then Draco told stories about Lucius and Narcissa, and they shared their childhood experiences. They moved onto friends and life at Hogwarts, Draco saying how difficult it was to be friends with the likes of Goyle, Crabbe, and Parkinson. Harry said how much he loved Ron and Hermione, but also how much he sometimes just needed to get away from them. To be on his own for a little. Draco nodded at understanding, his head rubbing against Harry’s chest as he did so.

“Harry?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you think we’ll be okay?” His voice was small, fear overtaking him like it did a few nights ago.

“... That’s a good question, Draco.”

“Harry?”

“Hmm?”

“Do we ever have to move?”

“I don’t think so. Not unless you want to.”

“Harry?”

“ _ What _ ?”

“I really don’t want to,” Draco grinned. Harry snorted and kissed the top of his blonde hair.

“I don’t want you to either.” He felt Draco sigh into him. His chest was against Draco’s back, and the Slytherin wasn’t sitting in Harry’s lap, but between his legs. The Gryffindor was sitting up against Walburga and Orion Black’s bed to support himself.

Harry pressed another kiss to Draco’s head. Then angled his head so he could kiss down from the boy’s temple to his jaw, to behind his right ear. Dark pink lips tingled as the danced across a pale neck. Immediately, Draco tilted his head to grant Harry more access. The Golden Boy took the opportunity to deepen his kisses against Malfoy’s skin. 

A slow, needy moan escaped Draco’s plush lips.

Harry paused and the other teenager shifted against him, whining a little. Carefully, Harry dragged his tongue up Draco’s neck, licking a stripe of his skin. Malfoy shivered and whined again.

“Fuck, fuck, keep going.”

“Malfoy, have a little kink? Not very little, though,” Harry laughed darkly. Draco, frustrated, curled his fingers around dark hair and pulled Harry down, back to his neck. Harry moaned at the pulling against Draco’s neck and the blonde pressed closer to him.

“Yeah, you too, Potter.”

Draco held his breath temporarily as Harry stilled behind him, but let it out as lips returned to his neck. He relaxed, and moaned again, lust-filled and filthy. He tangled his hand back in Harry’s hair gratefully and Harry kissed harder, fired up by the pulling. He moved down to the crook in Draco’s neck. He shifted his own t-shirt off of the blonde so it exposed all of Draco’s right shoulder. He hardly cared if the neck of it was stretched out when he got it back from Malfoy.

He mouthed along Draco’s collar bone and nipped the top of the pureblood’s shoulder. His left hand, which had been firmly planted on Malfoy’s hip, slipped down and squeezed his upper thigh. Draco’s right hand jerked hard and Harry moaned as his head fell forward with the pull. The ex-heir put his own left hand over Harry’s guiding it slightly to the right.

Harry went back to marking Draco’s neck, and felt the boy drag Harry’s hand over his crotch. Harry squeezed lightly over the bulge and Draco arched his back off of Harry’s chest, moaning again. His head had fallen back slightly against Harry, and the dark haired boy saw his face; mouth opened in an explicit moan and eyes lightly fluttered shut. Harry pressed a quick kiss to Draco’s jaw, and a hand dropped from his hair. Harry let go of the other boy’s shoulder, experimentally running it under Draco’s shirt and over the Slytherin’s nipple.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Draco whined, arching into the touch. Harry was getting hard just looking at Draco becoming undone. Harry kissed the left side of his neck and raised his hand back to Draco’s waist. His right hand traced circles over the blonde’s nipple, matching the pattern his tongue was tracing. Draco palmed himself through his jeans, moaning at the friction and stimulation. Harry so desperately wanted his own, but Draco just looked too beautiful to move.

Malfoy’s own hand met Potter’s before he muttered “Fuck it,” and pulled away from Harry slightly. The dark-skinned wizard was about to protest when Draco stripped himself of Harry’s t-shirt. Since he was sitting up and away from his lover, Harry could see the purple marks he was already leaving on Draco’s neck and shoulders. He eagerly took off his own shirt as well, his brown skin radiating warmth. Draco offered him a hand, and Harry slowly stood. He wrapped his arms around Draco’s neck, not unlike the way his mother had done to Remus, and kissed the taller blonde. Draco’s hands clutched at Harry’s sides, just below the end of his ribs.

Harry allowed one hand to press against the back of Draco’s neck and one to slip between the two and palm at Draco’s bulge again. Before the blonde could steer the pair towards the bed, Harry desperately pushed him against the wall.

“Potter—fuck—you’re insufferable. There’s a bed—“

“I don’t  _ want _ a bed,” Harry murmured against Draco’s neck. “I just want you.” It was enough to get the pureblood on board. 

Hands and lips brushed over bare and clothed skin alike, the two rutting against each other, and warm bodies pressed into each other.

Draco’s hips began to slow, and through his heavy breathing he got out a few words. "Hang on, wait."

"Hmm?" Harry brought his head up, pausing his body and looking up into Draco's eyes.

"This is, er, a little... fast. For me."

When Harry's brain caught up with his ears he pushed off of the wall, and Draco, and immediately began apologizing.

"No, no- Merlin! Harry,  _no_ it's not that I don't want to, I do. It's just. We aren't even.. together yet." His hand dropped from Harry's shoulder to hi waist, pulling him in briefly to give him a quick kiss. "And I want our first time to be a little more.. special. A little more planned, perhaps?"

"Oh. Yeah, no I get that."

"And we don't have to wait.. or anything," Draco said, tracing up Harry's neck, his breath warm against the other boy's face. "It can even be tonight. I just want to do this.. right."

Harry swallowed hard and nodded. "One last night before you're sleeping on the opposite side of the castle?"

"Exactly." Draco's beautiful lips curled up into a delicate smile and his eyelashes blinked together slowly. "It's a plan then. You, on top of me, _inside me_ , together, that bed, tonight."

"Fuck, Draco."

"See you there?"

"Wait," Harry started as Draco turned towards the doors. "You said, you said you didn't want to do it.. if, er, if we weren't together but now.. does this mean we' re together?"

"I don't know, does it?"

"You're bloody impossible, Malfoy."

"I thought you were courageous, Potter."

"Draco bloody Malfoy, will you be my boyfriend so I can fuck you tonight?" Harry was laughing through his words and it made Draco start giggling too.

"Fine. Yes, yes, yeah I'll be your boyfriend so you can tell your red-headed family."

 

"Good."

“Good. And please don’t fuck me like the hopeless virgin I know you are.”

“Hey!”

Malfoy smirked as he left the room, but it turned into pretend-shock as Harry slapped the boy's arse. 

 

— — — —

Hermione and Ron learned not to pester Harry through dinner as he stopped responding to their questions with actual words, but instead with “Hmmm?”s. He had managed to explain Sirius and Remus’ gift to him, but couldn’t get much further than that, he was still processing the fact that Draco had actually said yes to dating a bloke like him. He sat across from his best friends and Draco sat on one side, Sirius on the other. Eventually, once Mrs. Weasley had passed around cake to celebrate everyone’s last night before the Hogwarts train left for the next term, Draco got up to talk with Bill more about the job he had in the Egyptian vaults before Fleur came to work at Gringotts in Britain.

Harry feebly turned to Sirius. He hadn’t processed anything properly after his and Draco’s time together. “Sirius?”

The godfather of James Potter’s son vaguely turned to him, finishing up a conversation he was having with Charlie Weasley. “Yeah, Prongslet?”

Harry dropped his voice quiet enough that only Sirius could hear. “Draco, er, wants to have sex tonight.”

Sirius choked on his pumpkin juice, coughing violently and having Remus pat him hard on the back. “And,” Sirius began as he regained his breath, “do you want to?”

“Very much so, Pads.”

“So what's the problem?"

"Well, I know how to, er,  _get it_ , but instead he wants me to.."

“Of course you have to top,” Sirius said darkly, filling in the blanks. “That’s the one thing I have practically no experience with.”

“Remus?”

“Merlin, no, Harry! You’ll give the man an aneurysm. Just.. bloody hell, come outside with me,” Sirius sighed, rubbing his forehead. Harry nodded, vacantly noticing how much his head had been bobbing or shaking.

Sirius sat himself and his practically-adopted son down in the drawing room. “Jamie would be laughing his arse off if he could see me right now.  Okay. Do you have condoms? The muggles got at least that somewhat right.” Harry grimaced but told Sirius that yes, he indeed managed to nab quite a few from his uncles. “So, you’ve had sex before.”

“Sirius, why do I have to tell you—“

“It’s important,” Sirius said, holding up his hand to silence Harry. “Are you a virgin or not.”

“No,” Harry muttered to his feet, a blush creeping up his neck.

“Who.” It was a demand not a question.

“Why? ‘Re you gonna go fight them and defend my honor?”

“Please, Harry,” Sirius snorted, “I think you can handle yourself. I’m trying to get to the point, albeit too forceful, so that this conversation doesn’t last longer than it has to. I need to know who you’ve had.. relations with and, for the best advice,  _ how _ .”

“How?!”

“Just… tell me, will you?”

Harry groaned like the teenager he was. “Well, in backwards order, Draco, Dean, Cho, Ginny and.. Cedric.”

Sirius’ eyebrows shot up, but he quickly furrowed them in attempts to counteract the action. He clenched his jaw. “Quite a repertoire for sixteen. James would be proud.”

“My dad didn’t… sleep around, did he?”

Harry’s godfather snorted. “There’s a reason Lily didn’t like him too much until their sixth year. It took him fifth and part of sixth year to sleep his way through most of Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. Not saying I was any better, I flirted with Ravenclaws too, probably getting my frustration with Remus out.” The animagus realized that Harry seemed to relax a little when the conversation became two-sided. He sighed and continued. “James got the ladies, I got the blokes. Remus had a few flings, but never anything shorter than three weeks. I never went longer than a week. James had a few longer partners before he got bored that they weren’t Lily. And they never stopped him from proposing to her randomly on the staircases.

“Peter, meanwhile, would go out on a few dates with nice Hufflepuff girls. He wasn’t terrible-looking, but he was too nice to sleep around like us. Took him until seventh year to get laid, though, Remus was at least hot enough to be the first of all of us. Yeah, Marlene McKinnon. Before she realized she was gay and attached herself to Dorcas Meadowes.”

“Y-you said Dad was bi, though.”

Sirius hummed thoughtfully. “Look, I don’t particularly know how to tell you this, but that was one area James wasn’t exactly.. loud about. Back in the 70s.. it was a little bit harder to be out and proud. Wizards didn’t care, but James spent so much time in the muggle world trying to win over Lily that he never said anything. And besides, she was the only one he truly had eyes for, so it didn’t matter mostly.

“But yeah, he had a few.. experiences with that. He mostly just slept with a few older Gryffindors.”

“Mostly?”

Sirius became as uncomfortable as Harry was earlier. “You probably shouldn’t tell Molly I’m saying anything,” he warned. Harry nodded, eagerly sitting down next to Sirius. “Your dad needed.. a little help in the ‘being bent’ department. His first time with a guy.. well, it was during our fifth year, he had just turned sixteen, about three weeks before. And, I mean, Remus was out studying and Peter was with that Hufflepuff girl, and Jamie just came over begging me for help because he was terrified about it and I didn’t know what to say or do and, I mean, Jamie was always a particularly good-looking guy so we just.. uh..” Sirius pulled nervously at the neck of his robes.

Harry’s mouth fell open.

“I, er, sort of gave him a practical lesson versus theoretical. It was slow. It took time to build up to the full thing. I let him bottom because that's what he wanted. It, erm, didn’t go past that. Neither of us had feelings, it was just sex, I never had a relationship or anything with him.”

The only sound was the ticking of a Grandfather clock in the room as Harry stared blankly at his godfather.

“Does- Does Remus know?”

Sirius shook his head miserably. “Not even to this day. We never told anyone when we did it, and it didn’t matter anymore when Moony and I started dating.. it just never came up.”

The room paused again. Harry was the first to speak again. “Cedric and I started by blowing each other in broom cupboards or the prefects’ bathroom. He taught me how. We, er, we moved on to the.. _ full thing  _ eventually. He, erm, topped. Obviously.”

Sirius nodded. “How’d it go?”

“The first time was.. uncomfortable. We worked on it. The last time was the night before the last task.” Harry’s throat started to close up. “We were both terrified and doing nothing in the castle besides training, so we met up one last time. His dorm was empty during exams. And it was.. nice. He was sweet and gentle but firm and made sure I was okay—“

“Harry, we can move on from Cedric,” Sirius soothed.

Harry blinked tears away and cleared his throat. “Um, Ginny and I was just an experiment, in fifth year. I’d never been with anyone besides Cedric and she was questioning. It was mostly me making her finish, but in the end she decided guys weren’t really her thing. Hermione and Luna both know, but it’d take a bottle of Veritaserum for me to tell Ron.

“Cho was basically what Ginny was a prep for. It was messy and awkward and I hated it because she kept bringing up Cedric. She didn’t know about him and I, but I knew about the two of them. She kept crying. And she was too clingy. We only did it once. And then Dean was a few times, I think similar to what you and.. uh, what you and my dad had. I knew he had a thing for Seamus but he needed help with it. He’s pretty, definitely, and after my time with Cedric I could bottom pretty well. We were both a quick fuck for each other, available and good enough?”

Sirius hummed in agreement, he had been mostly silent through the whole thing. “Right, so, why don’t you just bottom Draco?”

“Becauuuuse,” Harry groaned again, “he really wants me to. And—I mean— _ I _ kind of want to. I mean, to be insi—“

“Yes, yes, it’s very intimate. Let’s stop there, please.” Harry gulped and ducked his head. “Okay, so what I learned from Jamie was that.. you basically just do what you know works. I mean, figuring out the angle is tricky at first, but after a little while you’ll get used to it. And then ask questions, figure out what he likes, tell him what you like. Definitely start slow and build, at least for your first time. It won’t be perfect, but that’s why it’s your first time together.”

Sirius gave him a bit of advice on stretching and after that Harry thanked him, insisting he didn’t need rimming advice just yet. When the older man finally waved his wand and opened the door to the sitting room, Harry pondered why he’d never asked Sirius for advice before. It wasn’t exactly pleasant to have the conversation with his godfather, but the advice was useful and Sirius wasn’t completely insensitive or embarrassing. The two dark-haired wizards left the drawing room and returned to their lovers.

“You okay? You look pale,” Draco fussed. Ron glared toward them and Hermione raised an eyebrow. Slapping Draco’s hand away from his face, Harry simply muttered that he was excited for tonight. 

“Oi! Molly, don’t send the kids up just yet,” Sirius began as Mrs. Weasley was shooing Ginny. “The night is still young!”

“Sirius, it’s nearly midnight. They have to be up early for the train—“

“The hols shall always end with an all-nighter with the family,” Draco and Sirius said together. They turned wildly towards one another. “My mother,” Draco admitted weakly.

“This is the one and only time I am happy you’re dating one of my relatives, Harry,” Sirius admitted proudly. “Now! We need butterbeer and Wizard’s Chess and perhaps a few of those miniature dragons, Charlie, and-“

“Dating, huh?” Draco muttered into Harry’s ear, surprised the boy had already spread it around. The Gryffindor turned towards the pureblood, planting his hands on either side of the pale hips dressed finally in grey and green, as Draco wrested his arms on Harry’s shoulders, keeping them straight and looking at his nails behind the side of Harry’s head. Rolling his eyes, the dark-skinned wizard pressed his lips to pale ones.

Vaguely registering the fact that Sirius stopped talking and that everyone was watching them, Harry pulled back slightly. It was their unofficial-official coming out, and that was that. 

At around three in the morning, Mrs. Weasley was done. “Out! Out, the lot of you. These kids need to go to  _ bed _ . Harry, Draco, off you go—“

“Mum! Harry and Draco are totally together! Nobody else who’re partners sleep in the same bed—“

“They’re hardly in the same bed, Ginny. Harry has his own—“

“They’re in the same bed, Mum. Either way, it’s not like me and Luna are sharing a room!”

“Ginny, please,” Harry muttered into the girl’s ear. 

“Let me trade with Phlegm, please?!”

“Don’t call her that!” Bill said, frustratedly. “I don’t call you Gin and Tonic.”

“Oh come on, that’s the coolest nickname—“

“Ginevra Weasley! Get yourself into your bed right this instant—“

“Why can’t I get into Luna’s?!”

“Mrs. Weasley, please, it’s only one more night, we _just_ started dating so it's not like—“

“Bill stop yelling at your sister— Fleur, could you please stay out of this— Harry! Where are you going?! We haven’t decided—“

“Molly, I’ll take the boys to bed. I promise I’ll make sure they stay in their own ones tonight, but it doesn’t make sense for anyone to be switching right before they get on the train.” Mrs. Weasley resigned, somewhat bitterly, to Sirius’ quick wit and charm. He put a hand on each boy’s shoulder to make a show and firmly lead them out of the kitchen. The second the door was kicked shut with his foot, Sirius let go of the two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and kudos if you liked it!


	12. Party Tattoos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco gets his gift from Sirius and Remus.
> 
> This one's long and took awhile since I pretty much started from scratch. Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from Dodie Clark! Here's the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JtISvgf2Aw

The three made their way up the stairs chatting animatedly about the previous events of the night, when a door flung open. “Ow! Fucking— Moony, what the hell?!”

“Shit! Sorry, sorry, I was going to grab a butterbeer.” The door had swung open and hit Sirius in his new ribs and he groaned, leaning against the far wall. “Shit, what can I do to help?” Remus hurried over. Sirius took his own shirt off and yelled in frustration.

“Fuck Dumbledore and his fucking missions,” he grunted as he tore off the bandages. The skin was raw and pink, but there was no more blood. The deep gash merely looked like a long scrape and his lost ribs from the splinching had been replaced. “Moons, fix it.”

“I doubt I can do more than Dumble—“

“Fix. It.”

Remus grumbled to himself as he shuffled over, quickly healing the bruise starting to form from the door. The rest, however, he simply solved by conjuring some soothing lotion for the hot and tender skin, waving his wand to spread it over Sirius’ side instead of massaging his boyfriend in the hallway. “Where’re you three off to?”

“Molly’s sending them to bed, even on the last night of the holidays! I figured, since Draco’s pulling an all-nighter anyways, I might as well give him his gift now. Come with?”

“Y-you got a gift? For me?”

“Of course, you dipshit. You’re family.”

“You never gave me presents when—“

“You’re family _now_ ,” Remus explained. “Anybody Harry cares about enough to call his partner is somebody we care about enough to buy a present for. Now come in, come in, I just have to grab it from under the bed.”

Harry padded into the room behind his boyfriend, Sirius bringing up the rear. Sirius’ room glowed with warm light, red and yellow hues fell over the walls from Gryffindor scarves and flags thrown everywhere. Pictures upon pictures of the Marauders and their close friends littered the walls and furniture. A stack of parchment, all letters, sat overflowing on Sirius’ dresser. It was evident that the stack was charmed together, as normal physics could not explain a pile that high and haphazard.

Remus summoned the gift with a quick _Accio!_ and handed it to Draco. “Now whatever you do, do not let Molly see you with this. Her head will blow.”

To the boys, it was simply a gift bag, small, with a few random household items. “What’re these?” Draco asked, pulling out a few small bottles of ink. “There’s a shit-ton more. Are they inkwells? I’ve never seen them in this shape before.. The colors are beautiful,” Draco marveled. A bright turquoise and coral were two of the containers in his hand, including a deep black.

“Not quite muggle inkwells, although you are close,” Sirius hummed. His eyes twinkled as he shot a grin to Remus. “There’s a piece of parchment.. That’s the one. Read what it says.”

Draco unfolded the paper, eyes glancing at the title written in big flourishes at the top. “'Moony, Padfoot and Prongs’ Step-By-Step Guide to.. _Stick and Poke_?' What is it, a game?” Harry watched his boyfriend become utterly bewildered the more he read, while Harry started to put the pieces together.

“Draco,” Remus sighed, attempting to explain the gift as Sirius had left him to flounder. “Stick-’N-Pokes are handmade tattoos. Muggles refer to it as DIY, Do-It-Yourself.”

Malfoy’s eyes shot up from the instructions and glared into Remus’. “T-Tattoos?”

“You take a needle, often a sewing needle attached to a pencil-their writing utensil-for an easier grip, sterilize it, and dip it in ink to create a tattoo. This is what muggles do anyways, instead of using magic. Those are containers body-safe ink, that way whoever you tattoo doesn’t get sick from contaminated inkwells.” At first, the Slytherin had been somewhat terrified of the idea, but his expression had slacked into interest. “You use the needle dipped in ink to stick yourself with, and leave ink just under the surface of the skin. The trick is to get the right depth. Now, these won’t move on their own, but if you want them to, James found the charm used to create moving paintings and added it at the bottom. He must’ve used it a thousand times on Sirius, that’s why the moon on his forearm changes with the cycle.”

Sirius bravely rolled up his sleeve, unabashedly showing off the tattoo. “These hurt a right bit more than casting a quick spell, but they’re much more personal. In my opinion, the imperfections of them are what makes them special.”

After a few moments of silence, Draco spoke to Harry. “We’ll have to try it out sometime.”

“Why not tonight?” Remus raised his eyebrows at Sirius’ offer. “I mean, there’s still quite a lot of time before the sun rises. It’s fun, just don’t do it anywhere Molly could see between now and when you two board the train.”

Harry looked at Draco and shrugged. “Why not, right?”

Draco nodded nervously. “You better not have a pain kink because I don’t know how many times I’ll let you stab me, though.”

Remus laughed loudly, “I said the same thing when Sirius offered to tattoo me.”

“You have tattoos?” Harry asked. He’d seen Sirius shirtless plenty of times, but Remus was a tad more humble. Harry figured that must’ve been what he saw when Remus’ shirt shifted in their hug on the platform.

“Moony, show them,” Sirius demanded. His lover rolled his eyes, and gently pulled his shirt over his head. Aside from the countless scars along his chest, stomach, and sides that Harry could see, he was decorated in small black symbols. Along one particularly longer scar that ran across his stomach were footprints, the same ones that appeared on the marauders map. They lined the scar, trailing down with it, moving so as to appear as if they were walking down the scar. On his chest was a cluster of lilies, enchanted to look purple and sway and ruffle slightly, as if being blown by the wind.

“Lily did that one. I think we put in a few memories of our late-night tattoo sessions in your gift, Harry. James had quite a few as well, although not this many. He didn’t tolerate pain as well as I did, and he wasn’t in it for the look as much as Sirius was.”

Sirius’ tattoos were much larger and obvious with or without clothing on. Remus explained that, while he loved the intimacy and art of the tattoos, he didn’t want them to be visible most of the time. Instead, they were confined to his upper thighs, torso, and a few on the front or back of his shoulders. James apparently had three visible ones, and one hidden while dressed. Peter had despised the idea of tattoos, especially Stick-’N-Pokes, as he didn't want reminders of his terrible teenage self when he was grown.

Draco and Harry bid the two men goodnight as Remus pulled on his jumper, and headed down the hallway to Draco’s room. During their time over the winter holiday, Draco had charmed the walls to a lighter gray, and the rug to maroon. The drapes over the windows were still a dark green, as were the sheets and blankets on the bed, but including the rug, most of the other accents in the room took on a reddish tint. Comfy maroon chairs had been conjured around the brick fireplace that remained always lit, although the room was still rather cold. A large percentage of the creepy pictures and busts in the room had been removed, but some were permanently stuck on the walls or simply too difficult to remove. Instead, photos of Harry, Ron and Hermione took their places.

A few pictures of Luna and Ginny that Hermione had taken with her new Polaroid from her parents over the break were placed over the frames that wouldn’t come down. Bill and Fleur made their appearances, as did Fred and George. Mr. Weasley had taken an excellent photo of Charlie playing with a miniature dragon, and Draco had put up the Christmas photo with all of them in it. Additional to Harry’s pictures and the photo book he had of his parents and Sirius and Remus, Draco put up a few pictures. Ones with him, Pansy and Blaise posing in third year. Ones with Crabbe and Goyle trying to out-eat each other with massive grins on their faces. Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass, and Millicent Bulstrode stood laughing at the person behind the camera in another photo. There were a few of Draco draped over Blaise Zabini or Parkinson, but none too threatening for Harry. Although Draco was hesitant to put them up, it made Harry smile that Draco’s friends, while sometimes mean and conniving, could just be regular old friends to the boy as well. He only hoped Draco still had them come the start of term.

 

\--------

 

"Ow, fuck, Harry I don't think you're doing it-"

"Just shut up, if you keep moving I'll fuck it up."

"Why are you even-"

"Stop. Moving."

Draco huffed, whining sightly when Harry poked him again. He was lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as sharp pains rippled over his chest. On his left pectoral, Harry was sketching the Draco constellation. He was simply poking the stars and their connecting lines, Draco said he'd learn to charm the design of the dragon over it later. He couldn't sit through Harry designing something that detailed, and also didn't trust his boyfriend's artistic skills.

"Merlin, Draco, I'm almost done. I just have to connect the head of it, okay? I sat through your lily."

"Yes, but see, I can actually  _draw_ things, Potter."

Harry snorted, and poked a particularly sensitive spot.

"Bloody  _fuck_."

"Sorry! I'm almost done I promise."

"Better be," Draco grumbled.

"Do you ever stop complaining? I did this too, remember? Mine took longer."

"They said to just start with small letters and things, why did we do in-depth shit?"

"'Because  _art_ ,' to quote you."

"I hate me sometimes."

"I hate you too, sometimes."

"That's a lie, you love me."

There was a silence as Harry finished connecting the tattoo. He sat back on his heels, stretching his back as he'd been hunching over Draco and admiring his work. "I'd say it's a little too soon to use the 'L' word, babe."

"Do  _not_ call me 'babe.'"

"Sweetie? Muffin? Honeybunches? Darling?"

".. That last one is..  _acceptable_."

"If you're not elegant arm candy you aren't happy, are you?" Harry laughed.

Draco huffed and pushed himself up, his chest still sore. He breathed out over it as he angled his chin down to look at it. "Fuck. That.. you did a good job. It's really clean."

"Straighter than me. And don't do that," Harry added, tilting Draco's chin up with a finger. "You don't look elegant with your neck scrunched up,  _darling_."

Harry's boyfriend blushed lightly and he kissed Draco. "Lemme see yours again."

"You  _did it_ , Draco, don't you know what it looks like?" The Gryffindor rolled his eyes as he climbed off of the bed and dragged the top of his trousers down. He hissed lightly as the fabric brushed over delicate skin.

"I just wanted you to take your trousers off," Draco hummed as his eyes locked in with Harry's hipbone. Decorating it was a single lily flower. It had a cluster of yellow dots in the center, but as Draco's eyes traced the petal to its outer edges, the dots became thinner until slowly blending into a red hue. Gryffindor colors on a lily, Draco's boyfriend was insufferable.

"Now, as long as you keep your shirt on around my best friend's mum, we should be good," Harry joked, climbing back in next to Draco, after shedding said trousers, and resting his head on the other side of Draco's chest. "Can't wait 'til it's not sore," he added, visibly trying not to trace the delicate black lines. Draco wiggled down a little to kiss the top of Harry's head. His own fell back with a light  _thump!_ against the pillows. Harry's eyes fluttered shut, and they fell asleep, intertwined, completely forgetting about their previous plans.

 

\--------

 

"Oh bloody hell. Mum  _said_ to sleep in your own- ARE THOSE TAT-"

" _Silencio!_ "

Draco apparently could wake up much, much faster than Harry, as the second Ginny walked into the room, his eyes were open and he grabbed his wand fast enough to silence Ginny. She looked furious, her cheeks as red and angry as her hair.

"Fuck, Gin, please don't say anything," Harry added, a little late, once he finally woke up. Spread around them on the bed were dirtied paper towels, opened and closed containers of ink, and a few different needles cleaned of any dry ink left on them.

Draco was still shirtless, his chest looked a little pink still, but better than it had when it was fresh. Harry could feel a numb soreness on his hip, and his bare legs were swung over the edge of the bed to stand up. Draco removed the spell on Ginny and blushed as he muttered an apology.

”We were all up early once Ron and Hermione started going at it about Lavender’s gift, so Mum’s been itching to leave for quite some time. We tried to let you two sleep but.. well.. we’re leaving for the train in fifteen minutes, you two better hurry up.” She turned on her heel and walked out of the room, mid-length hair swinging out behind her before the door was loudly shut.

Draco groaned and rubbed his face. “Time to put the school robes back on,” he grunted.

 

Harry slipped into tighter black muggle jeans, a pair Draco had insisted he buy after seeing how well they paired with his athletic Quidditch Captain thighs. The boy was incredibly fit, but in a different way from Draco. He had clear obvious muscles and a toned stomach from keeping his balance on the broom every day, and the running drills he put himself through to stay fit and quick. Draco.. he was more agile. Everything was thin and tight on him, his torso bony until he flexed and muscles rippled outwards.

The Slytherin dressed in the same light grey slacks he’d worn on the train to Grimmauld Place, and his ‘D’ sweater from Mrs. Weasley, the collar of a white button-down poking out at the top. The boys hastily packed their trunks, throwing gifts they’d received over the hols quickly into any free space they could find. Draco gathered up the tattoo supplies but couldn’t fit them all in, so he and Harry had to split the supplies between their two trunks.

They were barely dressed and packed by the time they ran out the door into Ministry appointed cars. Draco was considered an At-Risk Child in the eyes of the government, what with going against his parents in a terrorist organization, and Harry.. well, Harry was The Boy Who Lived. Anybody associated with the two deserved Ministry appointed  _everything_ , as Molly repeated again and again. For safety reasons, as they claimed, Bill and Charlie joined the group made up of Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Luna, Draco and Harry. Mr. Weasley had to work and was unable to see the children off, but Sirius and Remus came along too. With a curse-breaker, a dragon tamer, an ex-convict and a werewolf, nobody would want to come near the teenagers, Charlie had joked.

His and Bill's eyes lit up as they saw the Hogwarts Express again. They were usually off to work by the time any breaks ended, and they hadn't seen it since their graduations. Mrs. Weasley wasn't stopping to give them time to admire, however, and quickly hurried everyone from the platform onto the train. 

"Mum, have you seen Crookshanks? 'Mione doesn't know where-"

"He was with Arnold, last time I saw the ruddy beast."

"Ronald, be nicer to the poor cat-"

"Mum! Look! It's Cormac McLaggen!"

"You know McLaggen, Charlie?" Harry's nose wrinkled.

"He was a first year when I was in seventh," Charlie reminisced fondly. "I mean, he was a right annoying git, but still. Had a lot of Gryffindor spirit, that one."

"I should go find Lavender-"

"Ugh. I'm leaving, want me to save you a seat, Ginny?"

"No, thanks. I promised I'd sit with Luna who promised she'd sit with Neville who promised he'd sit with Susan Bones who promised she'd sit with Millicent Bulstrode!"

"Hang on,  _I_ promised I'd sit with Millie."

"And I promised I'd sit with you, Draco."

"Well, it is a perk of being my boyfr-"

"Quickly, on the train now, they'll be leaving any time-"

"Harry! A word before you leave!"

"Sirius, I don't have time-"

"Just a quick note."

"Really, Remus, they ought to be getting into their seats-"

"It won't take longer than a minute, Molly."

Harry's uncles dragged him away from the rambunctious group, and did the best to shield themselves from Mrs. Weasley's prying eyes. And from Draco's concerned ones. "Really, Pads, I ought to-"

"Harry, we need you to take Occlumency lessons from Draco starting this term."

"Wha- What?"

"I'm sure he's an exceptional Ligilemens. All Black family members were trained starting at a young age. I was stubborn and blocked-off enough to excel at Occlumency, but I never could grasp Legilimeny as well as Narcissa or Reg could. I'm sure his mother trained him, what with them being near the Dark Lord so often."

"I-I thought we had stopped those lessons."

"No, Harry,  _Snape_ stopped them. And frankly, I don't want Snivellus poking around in your mind anymore than you do. Draco.. well, you two are close now, there shouldn't be too much harm in him seeing into it. I talked with him earlier, he said that if you were okay with it, he'd be up to train you."

"Why can't you just train me?"

"My Occlumency skills came more from a mental block against anyone in my family than it did an understanding or talent of the subject. Plus, I'll admit it, Harry, I'm not as good at it as Draco. You really ought to take him up on it. We need you to, so we don't have a repeat of last year's Department of Mysteries field trip."

"But-"

"I'm serious, Harry," Sirius said, lightening up the mood purposefully with the joke. "Trust me on this one. "

Remus' voice from above startled Harry. "Many Order members were at risk during that unnecessary battle last year. We can't have it happen again. I know your scar has been hurting, I know you're still plagued with nightmares. Perhaps detaching your mind from evil will give it some rest, hmm?"

"I can sleep if I'm next to Draco," Harry grumbled, not unlike a five-year-old.

"I hardly doubt we can get Dumbledore to rearrange the sleeping situations of the entire castle just so you get a bed next to your boyfriend's," Remus laughed. His best friend's son blushed, knowing he was right.

"So talk to Malfoy, okay? For me? Good. Off you go, now, tell Minnie I give her a warm 'hello!'" Sirius called after his godson, who quickly gave both him and Moony hugs, before darting onto the train.

"Everything okay?" Draco asked as Harry slid into a seat between him and Ginny and Luna, the latter in Ginny's lap.

Harry simply nodded, his darker skin oddly pale, and rested his head on Draco's shoulder when he felt the magical train pull out of the station.

 

\--------

 

"No  _way_  Wrackspurts are real. They're totally made up!"

"Actually, Susie, if you complete ignore the sight of them, and simply go off of the effect on their surroundings, by calculating the amount of-"

Luna and Susan were arguing, but the Hufflepuff seemed interested, fascinated really, by Luna. She was on the edge of her seat, and Neville would always try to interject small comments, blushing every time he did so. Draco, disturbed by the lack of Slytherins in the cabin, latched onto Millicent and Harry. "Has Pansy reached out to you?"

Draco shook his head miserably. "Not that I know of. Blaise grabbed me in a store, said he wouldn't kill me in my sleep. It's so weird to grow up with them and not hear from them all break."

"You grew up with them?" Harry asked. Millicent looked at him like he was crazy.

"Well, duh. All of the Sacred Twenty-Eight kids grow up together. The Malfoy Manor was practically my second home."

The Slytherins nodded together solemnly. "Pansy, Millicent and Daphne were the only girls. I mean, there's Astoria, too, Daphne's little sister, but she was too young to play with us. Millicent's family were running low on funds at the time, and the Greengrasses already seemed to be spoken for, so my parents all but told me I'd be marrying Pansy. Zabini's mother couldn't care less, but Blaise was always jealous that he'd be paired off with Daph."

"Ugh, I always had to put up with Vincent or Greg. Dense, dense people come from that family."

"Their family is our family," Draco snorted.

"It's mental that you all were raised together," Harry breathed, awed that anyone could have ever grown up knowing they were magical.

"Well, I mean, the Potters and Prewetts all came from the Sacred Twenty-Eight. You'd probably have grown up the Weasleys, any Tonks kids, definitely any Black children if Sirius had them, if your parents raised you. The bigoted purebloods stick together, sure, but the outcasts often do too."

"My mum and dad knew yours, Harry. The Longbottoms are connected to the Blacks somehow," Neville noted briefly.

"I wish I had grown up with your cousin, Draco. Andy's kid? Nymphadora, right? She sounds amazing."

"Oh, she's brilliant," Harry beamed, happy to know something they were talking about. "She comes by my godfather's place all the time. They're, like, first cousins once removed or something."

"Aren't we all?" Millicent joked. Draco snorted, adding that if he did marry Pansy, it'd be to some degree of incest.

"You should probably go find her. Better to get it over with now rather than later, right?" Harry offered. He rubbed Draco's back when the other boy groaned. "Come on. At  _least_ say hi to Blaise."

"Aren't you supposed to not want me to talk with my exes?"

"Not if your ex is the only one who doesn't want to kill you tonight," Harry pointed out. The two Slytherins couldn't do much but agree with him, so the trio decided to leave the compartment. Millicent became Draco's bodyguard after Crabbe and Goyle were certain to disown him and Harry was his confidante, quite honestly, his life support.

Upon finding Pansy and Blaise, the former ignoring her prefect duties as well as Draco, the trio quickly realized they were alone, excepting the Greengrass sisters. "Draco!" Pansy was positively  _squealing_ when she saw him open the door to the compartment. "Millie, it's good you're here too. Come, sit, we were just talking."

Blaise looked irritated yet slightly amused by Pansy's act. What Harry had learned from Draco was that, while the girl was insufferably dramatic and needy, she was infinitely more intelligent than she let on. Her loyalties lied with her family and her friends, and nobody else, so if those dear to her were hurt, all ties would be cut and ruthless measures would be taken.

The girl pretended to be a sparkling wine, but in an instant she'd be as cold as ice.

"I don't know if Potter should be here, Draco," warned Blaise.

"Anything you have to say to me you can say to my boyfriend," Draco said, pulling Harry closer. Blaise raised an eyebrow, but became preoccupied with examining his nails instead of responding.

"Well," Pansy faltered, "we just wanted to say that everyone in this cabin supports you."

"And by extension, Harry?"

"Er-" Daphne was two years Astoria's senior, and as she was the obvious youngest student, the girl wasn't sure whether or not to speak up. "When I said I didn't support the Dark Lord, I didn't really mean I'd go against-"

"There are two sides," Harry spoke confidently. "Ours and his. We know which one's the wrong side. It's your choice, but you don't get to lie, indecisive, in the middle. You either, Zabini and Parkinson."

"Blaise," the Slytherin drawled out slowly, an invitation to use his first name.

"And please, call me Pansy. Draco's my best friend, so if you know him, you'll have to know me." The only Gryffindor in the cabin nodded in understanding of the two, but felt strangely out of place, despite their unofficial welcomes.

Daphne glared at Harry, drawing the small girl next to her close. "We support Draco," she said, her nose turned up.

"And I support Harry, and the Order of the Phoenix. Just so you all know."

Pansy nodded, a fake smile on her face. "Draco, honey, you don't have to be defensive of us. We're your friends, we grew up with you."

"I also grew up with Theo, Greg and Vincent, and they're currently plotting to murder the boy I'm dating," Draco pointed out.

"Listen. I'm a half-blood, my parents aren't with the Dark Lord. Blaise's mother has never supported anyone as long as they couldn't put money in her pockets. Parkinson, Greengrasses, we really don't know why you're here."

Pansy released a small part-gasp, part-scoff, part-squeak noise and pouted. "Well Blaisey and Draco have been my closest friends for  _years_. I don't particularly care for mudbloods, but if the Dark Lord wants to kill my friends, he'll have to kill me too."

The mentality was strangely Gryffindor, Harry thought, and he probably would've respected the girl much more had she not been speaking in a childish voice the entire time.

Astoria began speaking, rapidly in the silence after Pansy. "I don't- I don't want to kill muggles. I don't want to kill anybody." She shrunk down in her spot.

"Mum and Dad believe in all the blood shit like Pansy apparently does, but honestly, we're too young to fight in a war. Potter's friends seem.. fine. They're students and they don't deserve to  _die_ just yet," Daphne finished stiffly. "Besides, the Parkinsons and Zabinis opened their homes to us if needed."

"Swell! So we're all  _just dandy_?" Pansy asked, clasping her hands together. Harry sent a weary glance to Draco. "Because if we're done talking life-or-death, nobody's commented on the new hair yet, and it took  _ages_ for Mum to get the color right!"

The cabin instantly erupted into discussion about Pansy's hair. She'd had the long bob and trimmed, light fringe since second year, but it'd always been a dark brown, nearly black color. The new dirty blonde was a shock with her Thai ancestry and angled eyes, but the look was shockingly sleek and modern, and especially when paired with the black turtle neck and high-waisted leather skirt she had adopted, it looked more muggle than wizard. When Harry pointed out this observation, Pansy stiffened slightly, and her thanks was curt, as if she wasn't sure if what he said was an insult or not.

 

After the group put on their school robes and departed from the train's warm cabins, the world became hectic and loud as it had been that morning. Harry and Draco were separated, but out of somewhere appeared Hermione and Dean Thomas. The latter was apart from Seamus, an incredible feat in and of itself, and the three were joined in a carriage with Pansy, Cormac McLaggen, and Marietta Edgecombe. Hermione was unfortunately situated between McLaggen and Parkinson, and even Marietta seemed apologetic for her. McLaggen had asked her about her hols before promptly cutting her off and talking about himself, meanwhile Parkinson was attempting not to mention the fact that she was touching a mudblood for Harry's sake.

"So then, out of nowhere, my dad just casts a-"

"Cormac, Charlie Weasley mentioned he knew you earlier," Harry interrupted, needing to save his ears.

"Oh, did he? Yeah, I knew him awhile back," McLaggen responded vaguely. "He was a nice guy, rather dim though, like his younger brother. Never seemed to do much-"

"Charles Weasley tames  _dragons_ in  _Romania_ , McLaggen, whatever are you saying?!" Hermione rebutted, deciding it was impossible to stay quiet.

"Well, you know, dragons aren't actually that difficult to-"

"No, I don't know, and neither do you," she snapped.

"Harry's fought one, remember? Are they difficult?" Pansy asked. Hermione groaned at the thought that Harry had made friends with this girl.

"I mean, I had to fight one of the harder ones but.. yeah, it's pretty fucking difficult to get past one, never mind tame it."

Cormac shifted awkwardly in his seat. "My father, he's big in the ministry, and he said-"

"Harry, did you hear about what's happening with the Scottish Cup?"

Harry hadn't heard, so Dean launched into full Football Mode until the cabin reached the castle. All of the carriage's occupants, excepting McLaggen himself, preferred to hear Dean talk about football over McLaggen about something he didn't even know about but thought he did. Once at the castle's doors, Harry found Ron, Ginny and Luna quickly, but Hermione mysteriously disappeared once Lavender's bouncing head came into view. The feast was massive, as most students were hungry; it'd been hours since anyone had sweets off of the trolley on the Hogwarts Express. Energy was buzzing from the new year, and the winter hols fell away for a moment. The excitement of being back at Hogwarts caught up with Harry. Dinner passed without a single thought of Draco, without a worry for Moony, without a pause for the sewing needles and ink bottles on the top of the pile in his trunk.

But once the food disappeared, and a striking blond head appeared again, memories suddenly came crashing back. At Grimmauld Place, the world seemed detached. Especially the time he spent alone in the house with Draco, it felt like two weeks he simply dreamt. The rock show they'd stumbled upon, the gloves they'd gotten each other, the tattoo on Harry's hipbone and the one on Draco's chest. The two of them were untouchable for a secluded two-and-a-half weeks of the year. But 1996 was gone, and so was their shelter.

And within a moment, a flash of magic hit Draco and he was sent sprawling.

A voice had called " _Confringo!_ " Harry turned, instantly, and saw Theodore Nott with his wand out, his lips moving to form a nastier curse. Within a second, Harry responded a cast a hex that hit his target perfectly.

" _Brachiabindo_ _!_ " Roped unfurled around Nott, binding him tight and making him drop his wand. He looked furiously around for the perpetrator, and upon his eyes landing on Harry, they were full of disgust. "Fuck, you alright?" Harry asked after he had raced towards Draco.

"Fine, Potter, I don't need you constantly saving me."

"What?!"

"Now Nott's only going to be nastier towards me. All you did was make my life harder when I have to sleep in the same room as him."

"I didn't mean-"

"Just- Go to bed. I'll see you in Potions tomorrow."

Draco's callous brushing off of Harry left the latter reeling, and he could barely explain what happened to McGonagall. From what she had pieced together of the attack, she agreed Harry's response was necessary, but still not the preferred course of action. Nott would be serving detention and had lost twenty-five house points. Harry only lost five, and with a stern "That's all, Mr. Potter," he was sent to bed by yet another person.

"Oh, Professor?"

"Yes?" Her eyes drifted up again to look past her desk at Harry, inconvenienced by her time being wasted.

"Sirius said to give you a warm 'hello.'"

"... Would you return the favor to Mr. Black for me next time you write him?"

Harry nodded. "Of course, Goodnight, Professor."

"Goodnight, Jam- Mr. Potter."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and kudos if you liked it!


	13. The War's Effect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter. When I started this, I knew I didn't want it to go beyond Harry's sixth year, so it ends with June, 1997. The rest of the story that happens would probably be the same as what happens in the seventh book, as Harry didn't have much connection to Remus (and here, Sirius) on the road anyways. In this story, Tonks still dies, as do Fred, Hedwig, Dobby, Moody and Snape. Remus and Sirius make it, but they take a lot of time on their own to rebuild their lives and relationship, this time properly. I'd imagine that Draco goes on the road with Harry, Ron and Hermione because unlike Ginny, he doesn't have a home to stay at anymore.

"But you did it because it was  _right._ Because you wanted to help-"

"Fucking hell, when will you  _get it through your head_?! I didn't do this for the muggle-borns! I didn't do this to protect them, or Hermione, or to fight against the Dark Lord. I am not righteous or good-natured or brave or a soldier like you, Potter."

"You're selling yourself short of course!"

"Do not interrupt me. I did this, this whole thing," Draco gestured wildly around them, "for  _me._ I did it to save my own hide, my own mother, because I knew I was too weak and disgusting to do what the Dark Lord would ask of me. I didn't fight against him, I snuck out like a coward. I didn't deny the Dark Mark, nor did I brave it and show it proudly like the honour it would've been to my family. No, I hid my dishonesty and wormed my way out of it. Don't you understand? To the Slytherins, this is the worst thing a human being could do.  _Let_ them take it out on me, or, Merlin, they might take it out on you or the muggle-borns."

Neither of the two boys breathed as the rant concluded. Their broom closet felt particularly small, the walls pressed in on them. Harry had been pestering Draco since they returned, needing answers or a response, but never getting one. Finally, three days after the attack, Draco had dragged him aside and explained what was what.

"I.. I didn't know that's what you thought."

"Of course not. You never do. You're the most oblivious person in the whole world. I've accepted that."

"Hey, you're the one who's-"

"I am right. I am right, Harry, and you know that. Do not fill this with inconsequential comments about how I'm better than that, how I mean well, whatever. You're dating me, and this is how I think, this is what I do. If my moral code does not align with yours enough for us to work, then I'm sorry but it's better you leave now than when we're in the middle of a war."

"We are in the middle of a war, Draco. People are being killed, the Ministry is in danger, hell,  _you_ _'re_ in danger."

"Which is precisely why I saved myself."

"But you aren't disgusting to not want to kill someone-"

"Who's to say I'm not? The Dark Lord thinks I am. My father thinks I am."

"But- But they aren't right."

"Says who?"

"Says  _me!_ "

"And that's exactly you're problem. Everyone is either right or wrong in your eyes. Good or bad. Chosen by the Chosen One. Never mind how their parents see them, never mind how the world sees them."

"The world is often wrong, I've learned that from being Harry Potter."

"Never mind how they see themselves."

"You don't honestly think-"

"Well am I wrong? Who should I be more influenced by? You; Harry Potter, or my parents? My oldest friends? The most powerful wizard alive?"

"Your friends don't think that! Pansy, Blaise, the Greengrasses, they all said they were with you!"

"They said that to save their own skins. Except for maybe Daphne, but she said it to save Astoria who probably said it because she's a Gryffindor at heart."

"Well what about Hermione? Luna? Even Ron's coming around to the idea of you. Sirius, Remus, the entire Order!"

"They all hate me, honestly. They pretend not to for  _your_ sake. It's just that everyone you know does things for other people, and the people I know do things for themselves."

"But why do you care about the entire world of the sudden?"

"All of the sudden? Do you honestly mean to tell me that you don't care what the rest of the world thinks?"

"Yes."

"So everything you do is only for you and the people you love."

"Yes."

"So, if, say, Dumbledore told you that you didn't have to do anything anymore, if he said the world was fine and that the actual adults in the situation would take care of it and not make you responsible, you wouldn't take the opportunity?"

Harry stayed silent. Draco stepped forward. "You mean to say that you are not The Boy Who lived because the world sees you as that? You mean that you are the Chosen One because you  _want_ to fight in memory of people you don't know, never knew, never will know? You  _want_ to throw away your childhood and the opportunity to finally have a regular life for despair? For nightmares, for threatening your life every day of the year? Harry, you were placed in an abusive household for no reason. I was born into it and had no choice, you were forced into it. You could've easily been raised by Sirius, Remus, even McGonagall probably would've taken you in! But Dumbledore decided this is what would happen for you and your entire life changed to revolve around what he and the rest of the world wanted of you."

"What're you getting at?"

"If someone, right now, who was more willing, more competent, more prepared, told you they'd take your spot in a heart beat so you could live a regular life with me and your friends and perhaps grow up a bit more before fighting in the war, would you say no?"

"My parents fought right out of school-"

"Merlin, Harry, you're still  _in_ school! You were in school in first year when you killed a Professor and defeated the Dark Lord with unknowingly intricate and advanced magic. You were still in school during your second year when you  _saved a little girl from a dangerous snake-beast that you killed with a sword and vanquished the Dark Lord for the third time_. Need I bring up fourth year? Fifth year? I don't even know what it is Dumbledore's been having you do this year. Is that what your parents fought for?"

"..."

"And, by the way, they were selfish too. They hid to protect you and themselves from getting killed, and it didn't even work! They could have braved the Dark Lord, they could have attacked him first, they could have sacrificed themselves to save the Longbottoms. My aunt still tortured Neville's parents into a state worse death even though your parents protected you. You don't think Lily Evans Potter let herself breathe for a second when she heard it was possible that her son wasn't the one who was to be Chosen? Sirius told me about the prophecy, Harry, I know what you've been through. You don't think a part of her hoped?" Harry didn't move, didn't even breathe. "Despite your hero-complex, and your need to make sure nobody suffers, let me ask you again. If somebody offered to take your place and let you live, free of all of the complications that come with having a prophecy as heavy as yours, wouldn't you give them the weight? Part of it? You wouldn't even think about it for a millisecond?"

Everything was silent until Harry pushed Draco away, hard, in the chest. "Fuck off, Draco."

 

\--------

 

Hermione thought Draco was absurd and a terrible person when Harry first told her what happened. Then he explained what exactly Draco had said. And she thought he was right, told Harry so, and insisted he apologize for attacking someone against Malfoy's wishes. She also told him that he couldn't save everyone, especially if they didn't want saving, and maybe that's what Draco's message was.

It took a little while for Harry to let go of his pride and actually apologize, and awhile longer for them to get back into the swing of things, but three weeks after Draco's attack, Harry Potter could be seen laughing and carrying his books for him to potions. They would talk quietly about things in the library, either surrounded by friends or alone in a corner. More often than not, their voices were serious, Draco's head on Harry's shoulder and their hands intertwined as they sat close together. The war was picking up, and everyone was feeling the strain. Even Ron began to have a grim outlook on things.

Surprisingly, the Slytherins who promised on the train that they were on Draco's side stuck by their promise. Blaise Zabini quickly connected with Ron due to their stubborn care for their friends. They were more alike than they cared to admit. Pansy became the relief of the group. She often distracted them and told funny stories, albeit at the expense of others. She and Luna would always be there for someone to rely on if they needed a break. Her care for Draco and Blaise, Millicent and the Greengrass sisters was unwavering. Luna seemed to become her right-hand woman. And while her love for the others, the Gryffindors, seemed to be a little more hesitant, it was still there. She wore red for the Quidditch match of Gryffindor v. Hufflepuff. She screamed happily when her best friend's boyfriend's team one, and congratulated them all. She sent a stunning hex at a Ravenclaw that thought it was okay to insult Ginny for being in love with Luna. Ginny, bless her, had become surprsingly close friends with Pansy and Millie. The three could joke for hours as Luna sat, dazedly confused but happy nonetheless. She and Millie would protect Harry and Seamus as they went between classes. She would make excuses for Pansy and Hermione when other people wouldn't understand why they'd want to study together. Why Hermione thought she wasn't just a dumb whore. Those comments hurt the most, but Pansy had a reputation, she said. Never let your enemy know how smart you are, and you can always outsmart them. Hermione was nearly her equal, and  what she passed Pansy in books smarts was recovered by with Pansy's sheer knowledge in people.

Hermione thought she was observant, but perhaps everyone's observant around dopes like Harry and Ron. Pansy could unravel Draco Malfoy in a heartbeat. She knew the second Ginny walked into the room what had happened to Luna when the fifth year was in the hospital for a nasty bout of stinging hexes cursed upon her. Draco and Harry weren't the only unlikely friends in the new ragtag group of disgraceful Slytherins and endangered Gryffindors. Within their group, they had people to look out for each other finally. Harry no longer felt alone.

Daphne would watch Dean's back as he left Transfiguration to the bathroom for any others slipping out and looking for quick revenge. Astoria bumped into Seamus and made a large commotion on purpose when she saw somebody pulling out their wand and aiming for the sixth year's back. Anybody who touched the fourth year girl, in return however, would instantly be tracked down and faced by Harry Potter and a menacing group of Slytherins. The group may have ostracized itself from the rest of the school, but they were protected and loved internally, and while Harry may have felt alone for the amount of stares he received, he started noticing that he wasn't alone, that his friends received the odd looks just as much as him.

But issues started to arise at Hogwarts, ones that the newfound group could not stop. No matter how much Daphne attempted to help Neville with his Herbology homework, she could never save Susan Bones' family from suffering at the hands of Death Eaters. No matter how much love and support Seamus gave his best friend and lover Dean Thomas, he couldn't prevent other muggle-borns and half-bloods from being taken out of school by their parents in fear of their safety. No matter how much protection Hermione's friends gave her as she walked to and from her classes, meals and the library, the Hospital Wing still filled up with muggle-borns and blood traitors. Many of the younger Slytherins, while scared of Harry, were more than happy to curse other innocent students. People walked in huddles, speaking low and moving fast. Less and less laughter rang out anymore, and when it did, it was strained and forced, urgent and maniacal, out of place and high-pitched. The castle seemed cold, despite the snow melting and the summer approaching as May drew to an end.

Everyone knew their time at school was limited, and a few were determined to value it. Dean had taken up art over the past few years, his fingers being not only skilled with charcoal and quills, but also needles, apparently. While he may have sketched war scenes and heartbreak on parchment, he drew symbols of love, unity, of hopefulness and the ache for one another on bodies. Harry asked for a snitch that would fly around his skin, but during times where no adults were around, he allowed it to rest in the palm of his hand, thinking about his arrogant father and the way he used to steal his own snitch. Draco didn't figure out the glamour spell for his original tattoo, but Hermione did. He had a Hungarian Horntail, per Harry's request (really per Pansy's because she wanted to see the boy's reaction to it') designed around the constellation. But he also started to add other things as well. Asters sprawled over his forearm to cover up the scar. A messy 'HP' was written above his right elbow, Harry had an elegant 'DM' above his own. He turned one of the more vertical scars on his side into a tree from the forbidden forest. That one took Dean ages, slowly but surely sketching out the black outline and coloring it in with a soft green and silvery grey as the moon in the picture rose. The technique looked as if the drawing had been splashed by pale colors, "Watercolor," Dean had explained. Harry had a stag dance around a lake on his left bicep, and Dean properly added to his lily, making it a bouquet. "Honestly, Draco, it's not that bad. The shading's a little off, but I can fix it. It'll blend in well with the others."

Ron had a few Quidditch brooms hovering by his ankle, and Pansy had gotten one single elegant pansy drawn on the inside of her right arm. Blaise let her and Draco sign his bicep, after one night filled with a lot of firewhiskey. The Stick 'N Poke kit was more useful than Draco could ever imagine, and he sent a letter to Sirius and Remus in thanks. Nights usually haunted by horrifying images were celebrated, awake, with their friends. Someone would break out a few needles or bottles of ink and the other would join in. Not everyone had them, Millicent and Hermione weren't keen on the idea, and Neville couldn't think of anything he wanted, but they still joined in on the fun of the sessions that occurred once or twice a week to break away from the stress of exams and the war. Slytherins crept through the hallways and up staircases to the seventh floor. Gryffindors met in the common room and sped down to the dungeons with help of Harry's map. They'd plan in the library earlier and meet in the Room of Requirement. The last option was Dean's favorite, as it supplied him with the proper tools and sitting accommodations for such a delicate process. He may have not been the only one using the needles, but he was the most skilled, and whiniest, about it.

Dean was the first person to get a quote on his body. Nobody else found one that could explain what they were going through quite so perfectly. His thigh, to be precise, harbored the tattoo, said by some muggle artist Draco has stumble upon, Something-Picasso. Although Seamus insisted he didn't want his unattractive scrawl on the artist's body, he was honored when convinced to finally do it. First Seamus wrote it out on a spare piece of parchment, then Dean cast a charm that would make it traceable on his skin.

On the last day they would remain at Hogwarts, early in the morning before the train took their small little group and brought it back to the real world, back where it would be ripped viciously apart in the wake of Albus Dumbledore's death, right before that doomed ride back, the sun rose. Through the windows in the Gryffindor common room, it could be seen. There was enough light for Dean to tattoo the last person of the night-turned-day without Ginny hovering with  _Lumos_. He slowly traced over the curves and jagged edges of a quote that was painstakingly chosen. When completed, he sat up, letting his friends take turns examining his thigh. Hermione hummed in admiration, Neville winced at the quote. Pansy admired the accuracy to Seamus' handwriting, and Daphne looked sad as she mulled over the message. Astoria, Luna and Ginny, the youngest in their group, seemed to be empowered by the words. Millicent shook her head. Blaise laughed, and agreed with Picasso, the only person he'd  _ever_ agreed with, according to Draco. Seamus proudly kissed Dean.

Harry swallowed thickly and smiled, miserable and weak, at Dean when his eyes gazed at the tattoo. It hurt him the most of all, the one most affected by the war. In black, narrow print, the words sat forever on Dean's leg.

_"It takes a long time to become young."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! hope you liked it. Kudos and comment if you did <3 I really enjoyed writing this, stay tuned for more one-shots and chaptered pieces!


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